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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike Van Winkle who wrote (156498)	4/21/2000 2:40:00 PM
From: Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Mike,..Re:.IDC Q499 Linux Server Data IDC Declares Linux Is Red Hot in the Server Market April 10, 2000 - According to the latest release of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, Linux server shipments increased 166% to 72,422 units in Q499 from Q498, representing the fastest-growing operating environment in the server market. "Even though Linux represents a small portion (approximately 6%) of the entry server market in unit shipments, it will become an important area of growth within the server market as more and more branded vendors come out with Linux server offerings and as end users select Linux servers not just because of price but because of reliability, availability, and performance as well," said Hoang Nguyen, senior research analyst for IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker. For the quarter, Compaq held tight to its number-one position worldwide with $84 million in factory revenue. IBM is in the second position with $33 million. Dell was third with $24 million, and Hewlett-Packard was close behind with $23 million. (In terms of unit shipments, Hewlett-Packard finished third slightly ahead of Dell.) Fujitsu Siemens rounded off the top five vendors with $13 million. Top 5 Vendors Linux Server Unit Shipments, Q499 Q499 Market Share Compaq 18,088 25% IBM 7,001 10% HWP 5,429 7% Dell 5,158 7% FujSiem 2,286 3% Others 34,460 48% Total 72,422 100% Source: IDC, 2000 In a recent IDC survey of 200 Linux users (Linux Servers: What's the Hype, and What's the Reality? IDC #W21610), the majority of participants estimated that their Linux servers offered at least 4 9s in availability, which translates to less than one hour of unexpected downtime per year. The study also found that Linux servers are overwhelmingly deployed to support Web applications, such as Web hosting, proxy/caching services, and email. "More than 40% of all spending on Linux servers is for Internet-related applications. Linux servers are now embedded in the Internet infrastructure and are strong competition for NT and Unix entry servers," said Michelle Bailey, research manager for IDC's Commercial Systems and Servers program. IDC defines the entry market as systems shipped with prices from $0 to $100K. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker is the premier quantitative tool for analyzing the global server market on a quarterly basis. The Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker includes quarterly shipments (both ISS and upgrades) and revenues (both customer and factory), segmented by vendor, family, model, region, operating system, price band, CPU type and architecture, and channel. To purchase the Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, contact Hoang Nguyen at 508-935-4718 or at hnguyen@idc.com . For more information on the Tracker, please visit idc.com. For more information on IDC's report Linux Servers: What's the Hype, and What's the Reality? (IDC #W21610), please contact Patrick Steeves at 1-800-343-4952, ext. 6787 or at psteeves@idc.com . For more information about IDC, click here. # # # All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holde idc.com Cheers, Lee

To: Mike Van Winkle who wrote (156498)	4/21/2000 4:54:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Mike - I am not referring to the past, I am referring to the present. The trend in the commercial PC business has clearly favored DELL - and DELL has done a lot to build that momentum, through field execution, extranets, enhanced configuration services, and leverage of their cost advantage. I was able to predict that trend, and its effect on the market, years ago. That's one of the reasons I bought DELL in the first place. The trend in the consumer space is equally clear, and does not favor DELL. It is more likely that a company like SONY will make inroads - they already have the manufacturing and distribution model. There is a certain portion of the consumer market who is comfortable buying direct - they also buy from direct mail vendors, catalogs, etc. DELL is getting their share of that customer segment - they have about half of the direct business. The benefit for them to go after the customers who are not interested in Direct today is small. Despite the e-business hype, the majority of consumer buyers want to see and touch the merchandise, comparison shop between brands, argue with the salespeople, and be able to return the product or have it repaired at a local establishment. There is almost no value to the custom configuration capabilities DELL does so well - people just buy one of the standard packages. The demographics of the consumer market have been largely unaffected by trends to on-line - most of the on-line business to date has been a transfer of traditional direct customers to web-enabled purchases. While there will doubtless be more people using the direct model for consumer products, most of the shift has been in areas where the cost advantages are clear - B2B and other infrastructure plays. In addition, there is no cost leverage for DELL in the consumer electronics space - they may even be the high cost producer. CPQ has broken out financial information for their consumer group for the last 2 quarters, and they make better than 4% net on consumer products. Looking at DELL's overall financials, and dropping out the server and high end commercial products, I doubt that DELL can do better. And I'm not sure I would want them to do more of those sales - it will only serve to further depress their Average Selling Price and net margins overall. I would rather see them solidify their enterprise business, which will have the opposite effect.