PALO ALTO, Calif. -(Dow Jones)- Facing an onslaught from its top competitor,
3Com Corp. gained substantial market share during the first quarter for its important
fast-Ethernet network card product line, according to industry research.
Meanwhile, rival Intel Corp. lost market share, even though the company's sales
increased in unit volume from the fourth quarter, according to research from the
Dell'Oro Group, a Portola alley, Calif., market-research firm.
The adapter cards, or NICs, are installed in computers to enable the machines to
communicate over networks. Industry observers have been closely watching the
fast-Ethernet segment since February, when Intel dropped its prices by nearly 40%.
Competitors, such as 3Com, dropped prices of their lines in response.
Most corporations now use the 15-year-old Ethernet system, which hasa maximum
speed of 10 million bits, or megabits, a second. Fast-Ethernet, an updated version,
runs at 100 megabits a second.
Clearly, the price cuts helped accelerate the market. Overall, sales of fast-Ethernet
cards rose 34% in the first quarter to 2.1 million units from 1.6 million units in the fourth
quarter of 1996. Sales had grown 20% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter,
according to the Dell'Oro Group figures, which were released late Thursday.
Specifically, the Dell'Oro Group study shows networking-products maker
3Com gaining significant market share. 3Com has proposed merging with modem
maker U.S. Robotics Corp.
For the first quarter, 3Com sold almost 1.3 million units and held 59% of the
market, the study shows. That was up from 41% of the market, and 657,000 units
in the fourth quarter, the research shows.
The Dell'Oro Group research calculates the company's market share as greater than
that in a recent survey from International Data Corp., which put 3Com's market share
at 48%.
Intel, according to the Dell'Oro study, sold 730,000 units in the first quarter, up from
650,000 in the fourth quarter. The s emiconductor maker saw its share of the market
slip to 34% from 40% in the fourth quarter, the research shows.
IDC had calculated the company's market share at 27%.
Copyright (c) 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. |
