>>But IBM is making inroads with its high-end S80 server, which typically sells for less than $1 million, whereas Sun's high-end offering sells for more than $1 million. In the midrange Unix server market -- which IDC defines as systems costing $100,000 to $1 million -- IBM knocked Sun out of first place.
In this midrange market, IBM has 25 percent market share to Sun's 21 percent. Last year, IBM had 16 percent, while Sun had 21.
IBM's S80 "Condor," introduced last fall, has better performance than Sun's top-end but much-older E10000 "Starfire" design, analysts say.
IBM argues that its S80 systems, with only 24 chips, compared with the E10000's 64, is much cheaper to manufacture. Although IBM is making a profit selling the S80s, the company acknowledges that it is trying to keep prices as low as possible to compete with Sun.
"We wanted to be bold and make a move," says Mike Kerr, vice president of products for IBM's Unix server group. "We certainly elected to be aggressive on price/performance." <<
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