GARTNER: LATIN AMERICA SERVER REVENUE INCREASED WHILE SHIPMENTS DECLINED IN 2001.

While shipments of servers in Latin America declined 2.4 percent in 2001, Latin America server revenue in 2001 increased 5.1 percent from 2000, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). Gartner Dataquest analysts attribute the increase in revenue to the sales of more high-end servers.

Compaq accounted for 22.9 percent of server shipments in Latin America in 2001, while IBM was the No. 1 vendor based on Latin America server revenue, as it accounted for 40.1 percent of revenue in the region (see Table 1 and Table 2). Dell's shipments grew 62 percent in 2001, but its revenue actually declined 0.4 percent.

"In overall server revenue, Compaq's performance was lower because of its shipment decline in RISC/Unix-based systems, which provides a significant portion of the industry revenue," said Lillian Alvarado, senior industry analyst covering servers for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Latin America group.

"Server unit shipment results clearly indicate that Dell's aggressive marketing slowed growth in lower-priced systems for some of the other top-tier vendors. Dell's tactics also affected local vendors such as Itautec and Alaska," said Luis Anavitarte, vice president and research director for Gartner Dataquest's Latin America group. "It looks like Dell's strategy in the region at this point is to increase shipment market share at the expense of overall revenue gains."

This information is produced by Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platforms Latin America group. The group provides research on key aspects of the dynamic PC, server and printer hardware markets in Latin America. The focus is on regional and country issues in the top eight Latin American markets and the Rest of Latin America (ROLA) category, where Central American and Caribbean countries are grouped.