Egham, United Kingdom, November 16, 2001 — The Western European server market continued to weaken in the third quarter of 2001, continuing the downward trend of the first two quarters of the year. Overall shipments fell by 7 percent compared to the same period last year, to reach approximately 248 thousand units in Western Europe. Third quarter revenues fared much worse declining by 21 percent year on year to reach $3.26 Billion.
"Concerns over the economic outlook in Europe continue to negatively impact investments in hardware Revenues were further dampened by intense pricing competition at all levels of the product spectrum. User purchasing patterns changed as they switched to maintaining their installed infrastructure rather than undertaking major new application deployment. This resulted in an increased tendency towards investment in upgrades and towards low-end systems" said Karen Benson, principal analyst at Gartner Dataquest.
Demand for more scalable enterprise servers, typically dominated by RISC/Unix-based systems, felt the biggest impact, with year on year comparisons aggravated further by strong results last year. Shipments of RISC/Unix-based servers fell by 36 percent and 33 percent in unit and revenue terms respectively. "As expected, sectors where spending has slowed most markedly over the past 6 months, were telecommunications and finance but increasing pressure across all industry segments added to the downturn in the third quarter 2001."
Table 1
Western European All Server Shipment Estimates for Third Quarter (Units)
| Company |
3Q01 Shipments |
3Q01 Share (%) |
3Q00 Shipments |
3Q00 Share (%) |
Q301/Q300 Growth (%) |
Q301/Q201 Sequential Growth (%) |
| Compaq Computer |
80,740 |
33% |
85,090 |
32% |
-5% |
-6% |
| IBM |
45,400 |
18% |
50,610 |
19% |
-10% |
-4% |
| Dell Computer |
35,430 |
14% |
28,380 |
11% |
25% |
-2% |
| Hewlett-Packard |
30,570 |
12% |
34,370 |
13% |
-11% |
-11% |
| Fujitsu Siemens |
18,850 |
8% |
20,900 |
8% |
-10% |
7% |
| Sun Microsystems |
11,460 |
5% |
22,130 |
8% |
-48% |
-32% |
| Others |
25,340 |
10% |
25,070 |
9% |
1% |
-3% |
| Total Western Europe |
247,790 |
100% |
266,550 |
100% |
-7% |
-6% |
Compaq remains server market leader in terms of volume, slightly increasing its share to 33 percent year on year. Dell's strong quarter resulted in a gain of 3 percent market share to reach 14 percent, its strongest ever. Sun Microsystems dropped from 8 percent to 5 percent showing the largest year on year decline.
Table 2
United Kingdom All Server Shipment Estimates for Third Quarter 2001 (Units)
| Company |
3Q01 Shipments |
3Q01 Share (%) |
3Q00 Shipments |
3Q00 Share (%) |
Q301/Q300 Growth (%) |
Q301/Q201 Sequential Growth (%) |
| Compaq Computer |
17,320 |
36% |
20,030 |
33% |
-14% |
30% |
| Dell Computer |
12,230 |
25% |
11,590 |
19% |
5% |
4% |
| IBM |
6,020 |
12% |
8,940 |
15% |
-33% |
20% |
| Hewlett-Packard |
3,530 |
7% |
6,740 |
11% |
-48% |
-7% |
| Sun Microsystems |
2,520 |
5% |
6,950 |
11% |
-64% |
-41% |
| Others |
6,620 |
14% |
6,810 |
11% |
-3% |
32% |
| Total United Kingdom |
48,240 |
100% |
61,060 |
100% |
-21% |
11% |
The UK's largest enterprise accounts, particularly in the telecommunications and finance sectors continued to clamp down on spending during the quarter. The UK server market declined by 21 percent in unit shipments and 42 percent in revenue year over year. This decline was higher than any other Western European countries. Of the major vendors, IBM, Compaq, HP and Sun Microsystems all recorded revenue declines in excess of 25 percent. The weaknesses of the majority of vendors resulted in Fujitsu-Siemens marginally increasing its revenue market share this quarter.
Table 3
Germany All Server Shipment Estimates for Third Quarter 2001 (Units)
| Company |
3Q01 Shipments |
3Q01 Share (%) |
3Q00 Shipments |
3Q00 Share (%) |
Q301/Q300 Growth (%) |
Q301/Q201 Sequential Growth (%) |
| Compaq Computer |
14,880 |
27% |
13,730 |
25% |
8% |
13% |
| Fujitsu Siemens |
10,030 |
18% |
13,250 |
24% |
-24% |
-7% |
| Hewlett-Packard |
8,580 |
16% |
6,700 |
12% |
28% |
4% |
| IBM |
7,750 |
14% |
10,010 |
18% |
-23% |
-2% |
| Dell Computer |
4,520 |
8% |
2,340 |
4% |
93% |
13% |
| Others |
9,120 |
17% |
9,930 |
18% |
-8% |
-7% |
| Total Germany |
54,880 |
100% |
55,960 |
100% |
-2% |
2% |
Despite relatively poor economic conditions, the German Server market declined by only 2 percent year on year, a slower decline than average. However, revenues fell at the faster rate of 15 percent as the main area of weakness was in the midrange. Fujitsu Siemens again struggled in its home market, although a similar degree of weakness in IBM's volume business meant that it retained its second place. Dell outperformed the market doubling its market share over the past year, and appears to be steadily gaining momentum in this market.
Table 4
France All Server Shipment Estimates for Third Quarter 2001 (Units)
| Company |
3Q01 Shipments |
3Q01 Share (%) |
3Q00 Shipments |
3Q00 Share (%) |
Q301/Q300 Growth (%) |
Q301/Q201 Sequential Growth (%) |
| Compaq Computer |
9,736 |
30% |
10,018 |
28% |
-3% |
-28% |
| IBM |
7,505 |
23% |
8,342 |
24% |
-10% |
-16% |
| Dell Computer |
5,543 |
17% |
4,827 |
14% |
15% |
-12% |
| Hewlett-Packard |
3,782 |
12% |
5,134 |
15% |
-26% |
-36% |
| NEC |
1,592 |
5% |
1,138 |
3% |
40% |
-10% |
| Others |
4,695 |
14% |
5,937 |
17% |
-21% |
-19% |
| Total France |
32,853 |
100% |
35,396 |
100% |
-7% |
-22% |
France declined by 7 percent in unit shipments, falling at the same rate than the European market's average decline. Revenue dropped by 17 percent year over year, which was marginally stronger than the European market's average decline. Of the main vendors, the strongest performers included Fujitsu-Siemens, NEC and Bull Infrastructure & Systems, all of whom recorded unit shipment gains in excess of 30 percent. Fujitsu-Siemens totaled the strongest revenue growth year over year. Like many European countries, France felt the impact of a continued slowdown in the telecommunications and finance sectors, which affected most vendor's market performance during the quarter. However, the public sector provided opportunities for some vendors, notably Bull, who particularly benefited from its strengths in this sector.
For further press inquiries, please contact Laurence Goasduff at Gartner on +44-(0)1784-267195 or by e-mail at laurence.goasduff@gartner.com. You can also contact Karen Benson directly on: +33-6116-91327. Other analysts contacts include Samina Malik on +44 1784 26 8786, Adrian O'Connell on +44 1784 26 8797 and Jon Hardcastle on +44 1784 26 7752.
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