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To: The Duke of URL© who wrote (100686)	3/11/2000 12:48:00 AM
From: Tony Viola	Respond to of 186894

Duke, thread, here's an interesting article that says IBM is stealing some of Sun's lunch back. IBM attributes their success in outselling Sun in the last quarter, in Sun's breadbasket high end Unix machines area, to a faster high-end UNIX server, which gets its punch from faster copper-based CPU chips. Sun is not known for the speed of their CPUs and is late coming out with their speeded up Ultrasparc IIIs. If the report is true, it shows that a superior machine can unseat one that's been renowned for things like "solutions", service and, in the case of Sun, Solaris. Bring on Itanium and McKinley, and the balance of power could shift again. Also from the article, check out the size of the pie that is at stake: Hardware such as servers represents 30 percent of a $700 billion electronic business market, he said. {----------------------------------------------------------} IBM outsells Sun in high-end UNIX server area-IDC ============================================= By Nicole Volpe NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - IBM (NYSE:IBM) sold nearly three times as many high-end servers for the UNIX computer operating system as market leader Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) in the fourth quarter of 1999, market researchers International Data Corp reported on Friday. International Business Machines Corp. sold 720 new RS/6000 S80 servers in the fourth quarter, compared to sales of 255 of Sun's flagship E10000 servers, the report said. The servers -- powerful computers that manage other computers -- are designed to run the UNIX operating system aimed at industrial-strength business uses. "This is a real testament to how well the S80 was received," said Brad Day, computing infrastructures senior analyst at technology research firm Giga Information Group. "It is a strong competitive counterpoint to Sun's high-end encumbency." Sun Microsystems was not immediately available for comment. The report came two days after Sam Palmisano, head of IBM's Server Group, told analysts that growth in servers would come through improved products and a more focused sales effort. Hardware such as servers represents 30 percent of a $700 billion electronic business market, he said. IBM's S80 UNIX server, introduced last year, was among the first products to use IBM's copper-based microprocessors, which provide high performance from a lower number of processors, reducing costs. IBM said the S80's sales strength was dramatic due to the fact that they only began shipping in September. "This shows that we're really outselling Sun in the top end," said Michael Kerr, vice president of product management for IBM's server group. "We have every indication these numbers are being sustained." IBM is also seeking to grow its server business and redefine the competitive field by moving its copper technology to the mid-range servers, starting in May. "We're going to take that same technology and move it further down in our family," said Kerr. Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich wrote in a research report he expects IBM's hardware sales to be softer than expected in the near term, but that server growth may boost revenues in the second half of this year. "We are more optimistic about the second half, when IBM may improve in servers and e-business spending should benefit IBM,"