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Gartner
Dataquest Says Worldwide Server Market Experienced Flat Growth in
Second Quarter of 2002
The difficult economic times are still having an effect on the server
industry as worldwide server shipments totaled 1.08 million in the
second quarter of 2002, an increase of 0.5 percent over the second
quarter of 2001, according to preliminary statistics by Dataquest
Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc.
"The weak business environment worldwide continues to have
a great impact on the server industry," said Shahin Naftchi,
senior analyst covering servers for Gartner Dataquest's Computing
Platform Worldwide program.
"Because of customers' uncertainty of their own business,
purchasing high-end servers, changing to a new platform and signing
big contracts are still deferred, which elongate the sales cycle.
For the time being, customers are focusing on deployments that can
yield quick return on investments by purchasing less expensive systems
or upgrading their established systems if necessary."
The combination of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq moved it into first
place in the worldwide rankings, with 30.5 percent of the market.
Dell fell to the No. 2 spot, but increased its market share to 18
percent, up from16 percent one year ago.
The United States server market showed a nearly 10 percent increase
in the second quarter of 2002, with shipments of 482,647 units,
up from 439,163 in the second quarter of 2001 .
The merger of HP and Compaq had a significant effect on the U.S.
vendor rankings. As a result, HP assumed the No. 1 spot with 26.8
percent of the market. This pushed Dell into second place with 24
percent market share, followed by IBM, Sun and Gateway.
"Since the merger of HP and Compaq is still in its early stage,
HP is still faced with the challenges of transitioning its product
lines and integrating the two corporate cultures," said Jeffrey
Hewitt, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Servers Worldwide
program.
"On the other hand, the post-merger challenges facing HP may
benefit customers if the company decides to offer better prices
and attractive contracts to protect its installed customer base."
This is the second quarter of positive growth for the United States.,
prompting speculation that the region may be signaling the end of
the market downturn. However even though there are signs of unit
stabilization in the United States., the market has yet to show
signs of consistent revenue growth. Gartner Dataquest analysts say
that without a stable revenue stream, it is unclear whether many
companies would have enough confidence to invest heavily in new
server equipment.
These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available
soon to clients of Gartner Dataquest's Servers Quarterly Statistics
program. This program offers a comprehensive, global market information
service that analyzes and documents the server industry. To subscribe
to these programs, please call 408-468-8000.
Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology
and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor,
computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management,
software, and services sectors of the global information technology
industry.
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