labels: gartner dataquest, it news
Worldwide workstation market grows; not out of the woods yet news
Our Convergence Bureau
15 November 2002

Mumbai: Worldwide workstation shipments showed growth for the second consecutive quarter this year, according to preliminary third quarter results from Dataquest Inc, a unit of Gartner, which tracks the information technology market.

A Gartner press release says worldwide workstation shipments totalled 367,710 units in the third quarter of 2002 - a 6.5-per cent increase from the third quarter of 2001 and 1.8 per cent from the second quarter of 2002.

The second quarter of 2002 had also experienced a growth increase, which came after five quarters of year-on-year declines.

''The third quarter shipments bring us nowhere near the record year 2000 shipments, but any sign of growth is a welcome change,'' says Pia Rieppo, principal analyst covering workstations for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide group.

''Given that this is only the second consecutive quarter of modest growth, we're hesitant to say the workstation market is completely out of the woods. The economy is still under- performing, IT executives are reserved in their purchasing and there are still no new compelling technologies in the workstation market,'' he adds.

Dell extended its lead as the No 1 workstation vendor worldwide with its market share surpassing 40 per cent. IBM moved past Sun Microsystems to take the No 3 position:

Preliminary worldwide workstation unit shipment estimates for 3Q02 (units)
Company
3Q02 Shipments
3Q02 Market Share (%)
3Q01 Shipments
3Q01 Market Share (%)
Growth (%)
Dell
149,004
40.5
115,241
33.4
29.3
Hewlett-Packard
81,125
22.1
90,356
26.2
-10.2
IBM
56,442
15.3
46,117
13.4
22.4
Sun Microsystems
52,774
14.4
58,788
17.0
-10.2
Fujitsu Siemens
11,782
3.2
5,895
1.7
99.9
Others
16,583
4.5
28,759
8.3
-42.3
Total
367,710
100.0
345,156
100.0
6.5
Source: Gartner Dataquest (November 2002)

Gartner Dataquest analysts say Dell has succeeded because it maintained a simple three-model line-up. Others have been slowed down by a broader range and multi-platform solutions.

''Other vendors are able to help clients migrate from legacy platforms to commodity architecture or deal with compatibility within an heterogeneous environment, but they expand great effort and money in doing so. Dell's more simplistic price-focussed approach is proving successful in the current economic environment,'' says Rieppo.

The press release quoted Gartner Dataquest analysts as saying other top-tier workstation vendors are making changes in an attempt to turn their fortunes around. ''Many look for growth within the new mobile workstation platform while others face big strategy decisions,'' says Rieppo.

''For example, Sun Microsystems, which for years was focused on Sparc-Solaris strategy, recently announced it would provide PCs for its customers. These moves may help preserve market share but, ultimately, the market lacks strong growth drivers, and the vendors will simply have to wait for replacement cycles to kick in,'' he sums up.

 


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Worldwide workstation market grows; not out of the woods yet