SURGE IN PC SERVER MARKET - IDC REPORT
Dalin:
Here is some encouraging news if you haven't seen it.
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(Courtesy:IDC via Newsyte via fox)
FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1998 DEC 3 (Newsbytes) -- By Matt Hines, Newsbytes. Analyst research firm International Data Corp. said today that the PC server market posted a "healthy" improvement for the third quarter of 1998. The company released data which indicates that economic upturns in a number of markets worldwide helped to spur growth in the stalled PC server sector.
According to IDC, the market reported third year-over-year growth of 22 percent and sequential growth of 14 percent. Third quarter worldwide unit shipments rose to 551,000.
"The resurgence in the Japanese PC server market clearly had a positive impact on worldwide growth rates," said analyst Amir Ahari of IDC's Commercial Systems and Server group. "Worldwide vendors pushed vigorously to sell excess inventories and outdated models to clear out the channel. Adding even more fuel to the growth was the increase in sales of uni-processor systems."
IDC data indicates that the leading direct vendors, Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc. and Micron Electronic Inc., now account for 25.9 percent of the US PC server market compared to 17.0 percent a year ago. This growth was caused do to a now-mature infrastructure and the changing dynamic of customer buying patterns, according to the research.
Compaq "fortified" its position as the top vendor in the third quarter, somewhat due to the addition of Digital's PC server products and customer base. IDC commented that the developer made strong inroads against German manufacturer SNI and won several major accounts in the UK.
The top four PC server vendors, Compaq, Hewlett Packard Co., IBM Corp. and Dell, now account for over 70 percent of the worldwide PC server market versus a combined share of 64.4 percent for the third quarter 1997. IDC reported that NEC beat out Acer for the sixth spot due to increased shipments after a soft second quarter.
US shipments grew by 10 percent year-over-year and 18 percent sequentially falling just short of 203,000 units. Western European shipments grew by 45 percent year-over-year and 13 percent sequentially. Japanese PC server shipment growth was up 14 percent year-over-year and 36 percent from the previous quarter. The Asia Pacific market saw PC server shipments increase 17 percent year- over-year and 3 percent from the previous quarter, according to IDC.
"As a whole, data in the third quarter 1998 indicates an upward trend in worldwide PC server shipments," the IDC report said. "Looking ahead, analysts expect that the Japanese market will continue to experience sporadic patterns, while the US market regains steady growth now that inventory problems are under control."
IDC said that it believes that by the second half of 1999 hardware differentiation will decrease, forcing second-tier vendors to find a specific niche in the market.
Officials from the research group said the data contained in its bulletin, "3Q98 PC Server Results: Market Bounces Back," was generated from vendor polling, phone interviews, vendor financial data and interviews with resellers.
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