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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: almaxel who wrote (10010)	6/1/1998 6:34:00 PM
From: Kal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

The Merced delay news is, I think, excellent news for SUNW. Bad news for MS, HP. news.com

To: almaxel who wrote (10010)	6/2/1998 1:48:00 AM
From: HammerHead	Respond to of 64865

Study Finds 1Q Weakness In Market For Intel-Based Servers By Mark Boslet PALO ALTO, Calif., (Dow Jones)--First-quarter shipments of servers running chips from Intel Corp. (INTC) fell 11% in units from the fourth quarter and 15% in revenue, a new study of the worldwide market shows. Results in the U.S. market were similar, with shipments dropping 11% in units from the fourth quarter and 15% in revenue, according the study from International Data Corp. of Framingham, Mass. Server vendors overestimated demand in the fourth quarter and filled the distribution channel with inventory. As a result, vendors resorted to cutting prices, and both Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) lost marketshare, the study said. Economic weakness in the Asia-Pacific region, slow European growth and typical seasonality in the U.S. also played a role. Overall, demand in the market is still strong, said Amir Ahari, senior research analyst at IDC. But "vendors miscalculated and got stuck holding a lot of baggage." The price cuts, more than simply moving inventory, will inevitably lead to a shakeout of weaker companies that are not diversified or efficient enough to weather the challenging market conditions, Ahari said. The International Data Corp. study examined servers that use Intel chips and which cost less than $25,000. Worldwide, the weak first-quarter amounted to year-over-year shipment growth of 28%, the slowest growth in three years. IDC expects the lingering inventory problem will lead to 22% growth in 1998, down from 41% growth in 1997. Pricing cutting led to a 10% decline in the average system cost. During the quarter, Compaq's share of shipments declined to 29.7% from 31.5% after its shipments fell 16.5%. IBM saw quarterly shipments decline 35%. Ahari said demand for 4-way machines running Intel's Pentium Pro processor - a big share of Compaq's shipments - wasn't as strong as in the past. Demand for these four-processor machines may not pick up until Intel ships its more powerful Pentium II Xeon processor this summer, he said.