Gartner Says Latin American Server Market Declined 3 Percent in the First Quarter of 2003.

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2003

Driven by slower sales in the IA32 segment, the Latin America server market suffered declines in shipments and revenue in the first quarter of 2003, according to Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

Server shipments in Latin America declined 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2003, while server revenue dropped 2.8 percent from the first quarter of 2002.

"Lower levels of investment in technology in Venezuela and most countries in the region affected the Intel server segment of the market which, in turn, affected the entire market. In contrast, Brazil and Mexico showed slight gains, and Argentina experienced a partial recovery," said Lillian Alvarado, senior industry analyst covering servers for Gartner's Computing Platforms Latin America group.

Hewlett-Packard maintained the No. 1 position in server shipments, despite an 8.8 percent decline (see Table 1). IBM held onto the No. 2 spot, while the No. 3 vendor, Dell, experienced the strongest growth rate in server shipments, as it grew 39.6 percent.

Table 1
Latin America Server Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 1Q03 (Units)
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                                    1Q03                 1Q02
                                  Market               Market
                           1Q03    Share        1Q02    Share  Growth
Company               Shipments      (%)   Shipments      (%)     (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hewlett-Packard          10,829     28.9      11,875     30.9    -8.8
IBM                       6,824     18.2       6,018     15.6    13.4
Dell                      6,270     16.7       4,493     11.7    39.6
Alaska                    1,062      2.8       1,855      4.8   -42.7
Sun Microsystems          1,044      2.8         754      2.0    38.5
Others                   11,436     30.5      13,497     35.1   -15.3
Total                    37,465    100.0      38,492    100.0    -2.7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Gartner Dataquest (May 2003)

IBM was the top vendor in server revenue with 37.4 percent of the market (see Table 2). Hewlett-Packard was the No. 2 vendor, followed by Sun Microsystems, Dell and Itautec, respectively. IBM and Dell were the only top-tier vendors to experience positive growth in revenue.

Table 2
Latin America Server Vendor Revenue Estimates for 1Q03
(Actual Dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    1Q03                 1Q02
                                  Market               Market
                           1Q03    Share        1Q02    Share  Growth
Company                 Revenue      (%)     Revenue      (%)     (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
IBM                     116,246     37.4     107,699     33.6     7.9
Hewlett-Packard          89,123     28.6      94,725     29.6    -5.9
Sun Microsystems         27,614      8.9      35,277     11.0   -21.7
Dell                     26,931      8.7      20,516      6.4    31.3
Itautec                   9,647      3.1      16,764      5.2   -42.5
Others                   41,668     13.4      45,265     14.1    -7.9
Total                   311,229    100.0     320,246    100.0    -2.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Gartner Dataquest (May 2003)

The RISC server segment experienced an increase in units shipped of 19.4 percent, mostly by IBM and Sun Microsystems. Servers in the lower-end drove the increase in shipments in this segment. Revenue in the RISC server segment increased by 15.6 percent.

"RISC servers have expanded their offerings, particularly in the lower end, and have become more competitive in terms of pricing," said Alvarado.

This information is produced by Gartner'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. To subscribe to this program, please call 408-468-8000.

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