Q2 Worldwide PC Server Shipments Buck Trends With Lowest Recorded Year-Over-Year Growth in Three Years at 17%, According to IDC
Compaq and Dell Vie For Lead in Market Share
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Counter to what is typically a strong quarter, a recent IDC bulletin reveals market and vendor shipment data showing sluggish growth in the 2Q98 worldwide PC server market. Shipments on a worldwide basis dropped to just over 487,800, representing negative 1% sequential growth. Year-over-year growth, the lowest on record in the last three years, leveled out at 17%. IDC's bulletin ''2Q98 PC Server Results: Economic Crisis in Japan Dampens Worldwide Results'' tracks market share in the worldwide PC server market, analyzes key factors that impact vendor performance and positioning, and forecasts server shipments through 4Q99.
''Though the economic turmoil in Japan played a major role in the worldwide PC server shipment decline, the overall down turn is due to a number of factors including inventory issues in the U.S., modest growth in Europe, and a slowdown in high-end PC server sales due to anticipated Xeon servers,'' says IDC analyst Amir Ahari.
Despite unfavorable worldwide results, the top five vendors maintained market share positions in 2Q98 for worldwide shipments. Combating the effects of the channel glut from 4Q97 and losing share for the second consecutive quarter as it complete its Digital merger, Compaq sustained its leading share at 27.7% of the worldwide PC server shipments. Now at 15.2%, HP increases their hold on market share for the third consecutive quarter, building momentum on the success of its E-Series and LH PC servers. With the addition of two new Netfinity models, IBM succeeded in narrowing a large gap between itself an HP with a 12.2% share of shipments worldwide for the 2Q98.
Most notable, Dell breaks the double digit mark for the first time with 11.4% shipment market share on a worldwide basis. Most of its volumes were generated from low end PowerEdge 2200s and 2300s. Likewise in the U.S. market, Dell made an impressive leap to 19.8% share -- less than 14,000 units behind the market leader, Compaq. This is the narrowest gap ever recorded between Compaq and any other company in the U.S. PC server market!
While Japan rides out its economic crisis, IDC forecasts that vendors selling in that region will continue to perform poorly until mid next year. However, IDC remains optimistic about PC server demand in regions such as the U.S., Western Europe and Latin America.
Worldwide data in the 2Q98 PC Server Results bulletin originates from multiple sources, including vendor polling, phone interviews, vendor financial data (SEC 10Qs and 10Ks) and interviews with VARs. The data is cross checked by IDC's regional server analysts. For more information or to purchase this bulletin, call Cheryl Toffel at 1-800-343-4952, ext. 4389. IDC's web site ( idc.com ) contains additional company information and recent news releases, and offers full-text searching of recent research.
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