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| Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide Workstation Shipments Declined Nine Percent in the First Quarter of 2001 |
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SAN JOSE, Calif., May 10, 2001 — Worldwide workstation shipments totaled 361,298 units in the first quarter of 2001, which is a 9.2 percent decline over the same period last year, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). Workstation shipments in the first quarter of 2000 were 398,028. While the poor overall performance is a continuation of the soft U.S. market, Gartner Dataquest analysts believe that the slowdown in the U.S. economy is only part of the reason the workstation market is doing poorly.
"Following unnaturally high growth rates from 1996 to 1999, Intel architecture (IA) workstations sales may now be reaching saturation, with some end users choosing high-end PCs over low-end workstations," said Pia Rieppo, principal analyst for workstation coverage for Gartner Dataquest. According to Rieppo, PC versus workstation differentiation is an ongoing struggle for system vendors. It is made difficult by technology and price parity between high-end PCs and low-end workstations and changes in Intel product positioning, especially with respect to dual processor scalability and Web pricing tools that allow end users to independently configure and compare systems. Three of the top-tier vendors experienced negative growth rates in the first quarter of 2001 (see Table 1).The top two vendors made up nearly 50 percent of the market. Dell remained in the top spot with a 30.4 percent market share. Sun Microsystems followed with a market share of 19.0 percent. Table 1 Preliminary Worldwide Workstation Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for Q1/01 (Units)
Shahin Naftchi, senior analyst covering servers and workstations for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide group, notes that this is the first quarter of negative year-over-year growth since Gartner Dataquest began quarterly data collection in 1996. Naftchi also speculates the culprit is a lack of differentiation. "The introduction of Windows 2000 makes it even harder to differentiate high-end PCs from uni-processor workstations," Naftchi said. These results are preliminary at this time. 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 10,000 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 4,600 associates, including 1,400 research analysts and consultants, in more than 80 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2000 revenues of $859 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com. |
| CONTACT: |
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Christy Pettey Gartner 408-468-8312 christy.pettey@gartner.com |
