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| Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide Workstation Shipments Decreased 17 Percent in the Third Quarter of 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SAN JOSE, Calif., November 5, 2001 - Worldwide workstations shipments surpassed 346,840 units in the third quarter of 2001, a 17 percent decline from the third quarter of 2000, according to preliminary results from Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). The industry has experienced a decline in shipments since the third quarter of 2000, but Gartner Dataquest analysts said there are signs the industry will begin to grow again.
While the events from September 11 have negatively impacted many sectors of the technology industry, Gartner Dataquest analysts said this did not happen in the workstation industry . "Because workstation purchase cycles are fairly long, vendors experienced no sudden decline in workstation sales. In fact, the events of September 11 might have had a gentle push in U.S. workstation sales," said Pia Rieppo, principal analyst covering workstations for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide group. "This push was attributed to the immediate demand from the companies previously located in the World Trade Center." Dell and IBM were the only top-tier vendors to experience double-digit growth in the third quarter (see Table 1). "It's likely that once the third quarter 2001 numbers are finalized that Dell, for the first time, will be No. 1 in terms of both units and revenue," said Serena Hsu, industry analyst covering workstations for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide group. Table 1 Preliminary Worldwide Workstation Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 3Q01 (Units)
Source: Gartner Dataquest (November 2001)
Even though the U.S. economic slowdown is continuing, Gartner Dataquest analysts believe the workstation market may show positive growth in the fourth quarter of 2001. Workstation purchase cycles were prolonged throughout the first half of 2001, and these purchases must be made soon, and the military campaign stemming from the events of September 11 may increase shipments to government, defense and biotechnology sectors. In fact, in the third quarter of 2001 the sequential shipment decline slowed down and some of the vendors such as Compaq and IBM had an increase in shipments from the second quarter, partly because of a large finance client base. "The terrorist attack has brought to the forefront the necessity to have disaster recovery plans and some financial institutions are spreading their resources over a larger number of locations, which requires increases in investment," Rieppo said. "Finance represents only about 10 percent of workstation sales, but spending in this sector will also affect servers and storage." 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 this program, please call 408-468-8000. Reports can be purchased on the Internet at www.gartner.com. 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. |
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Contact: Christy Pettey 408-468-8312 christy.pettey@gartner.com |
