Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide Workstation Market Declined 5 Percent in the First Quarter of 2002
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 6, 2002 - Worldwide workstation shipments totaled 358,829 units in the first quarter of 2002, a 5.4 percent decline from the first quarter of 2001, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

When worldwide workstation shipments declined rapidly from the third quarter of 2000 to the third quarter of 2001, the hope was that the industry would soon show signs of a recovery, but Gartner Dataquest analysts said the industry still has obstacles to overcome.

"The worldwide market is hampered by uncertainty because the U.S. economy continues to be soft and the pending HP-Compaq merger may be leaving some end users undecided on product roadmaps. There are also signs of saturation in the U.S. workstation market," said Pia Rieppo, principal analyst covering workstations for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide group. "In addition, there is little technological innovation to get excited about, with possible exception of notebook workstations, and the future of the Itanium product family is still undecided. All this uncertainty leads to conservatism in IT spending."

Dell extended its lead as the No. 1 vendor in worldwide workstation shipments, as its market share grew to 37.5 percent (see Table 1). IBM was the only other top-tier vendor in 2001 to experience an increase in shipments from the previous year. All vendors experienced flat or declining shipments from the fourth quarter of 2001.

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide Workstation Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q02 (Units)
Company 1Q02 Shipments 1Q02 Market Share (%) 1Q01 Shipments 1Q01 Market Share (%) Growth (%)
Dell 134,700 37.5 109,048 28.8 23.5
Sun Microsystems 62,000 17.3 85,411 22.5 -27.4
Compaq 47,551 13.3 48,011 12.7 -1.0
IBM 46,303 12.9 40,829 14.9 13.4
Hewlett-Packard 36,600 10.2 56,611 10.8 -35.3
Others 31,676 8.8 39,386 10.4 -19.6
Total 358,829 100.0 379,296 100.0 -5.4
Note: Data includes desk-based PCs, mobile PCs and PC servers.
Source: Gartner Dataquest (May 2002)


These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner Dataquest's Workstations Quarterly Statistics Worldwide program. This program offers a comprehensive, global market information service that analyzes and documents the workstation 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.

Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 11,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut,and consists of 4,300 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, in more than 90 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2001 revenue of $952 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

Contact:
Christy Pettey
408-468-8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com