February 26, 2001, New York Times,
I.B.M. Makes Sun Back Down From Claim as Top Server Seller by Barnaby J. Feder
Sun Microsystems wanted to accent the positive when it warned Wall Street last week that earnings and revenue would fall short of estimates in the current quarter. But even though business was slowing, the company said, Sun was still gaining market share at the expense of its rivals.
Ed Zander, Sun's president and chief operating officer, told analysts during Thursday's conference call that
the latest figures from market researchers at Dataquest showed that Sun passed I.B.M. last year to become
"the No. 1 server company on the planet." Servers are the hub computers that enable users to share a network's resources.
The next day, Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman and chief executive, told an interviewer on CNBC that the
International Data Corporation, Dataquest's main rival in the information technology research business, "announced just recently we are the No. 1 server company in the world today, bigger than I.B.M. in new server sales."
Since bragging rights are a big deal in the computer business, it did not take long for an infuriated I.B.M. to complain that both statements were false. International Data has not yet published its summary of last year, I.B.M. pointed out.
And Dataquest, a unit of the Gartner Group, actually concluded that although Sun's revenue from server sales
exceeded that of I.B.M. in the United States, I.B.M. was still the leader in unit sales. More to the point,
Dataquest indicated that I.B.M. was far ahead of Sun on a worldwide basis in both revenues ($13.7 billion to
$9.7 billion) and units (656,457 to 289,040).
"You can't argue the worldwide numbers," said Michael Fay, an I.B.M. spokesman. "It's not even close."
Sun's response? "The boys slipped up," said Lisa Ganier, a Sun spokeswoman. "We'll have to remind them to
be more specific."
Ms. Ganier said that the company's news release last Tuesday on the Dataquest numbers was careful to correctly identify the nature of Sun's lead in the United States. (The release is posted at www.sun.com under a headline that implies a broader claim).
"I find I.B.M.'s reaction amusing," Ms. Ganier added, indicating that Big Blue is no slouch at extracting rosy
pictures from isolated points in market research.
I.B.M.'s Mr. Fay draws a distinction. "There is a difference," he said, "between focusing on trends and lying."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
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