FRAMINGHAM, MA – Factory revenue in the worldwide server market decreased 7.2% year-over-year to $14.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, says International Data Corp.
This was the first quarterly decline in factory revenue in two years, the firm notes. Worldwide server shipments increased 2% to 2.2 million units in the quarter compared with the year-ago period. For full-year 2011, worldwide server revenue increased 5.8% to $52.3 billion year-over-year, while worldwide unit shipments increased 4.2% to 8.3 million units, says IDC.
On a year-over-year basis, all three classes of servers experienced decreased factory revenue totals in the fourth quarter. Volume systems experienced a 2% year-over-year factory revenue decline to $8.8 billion, while midrange revenue decreased 4.6% to $1.8 billion compared to the same period in 2010.
Additionally, high-end system revenue declined 18.4% to $3.7 billion. This is the first time all three server classes have experienced year-over-year declines in revenue since the third quarter of 2009, according to IDC.
IBM held onto the number one spot in the worldwide server systems market, with 36.5% market share in factory revenue for the fourth quarter, as revenue declined 7.6% year-over-year. IBM experienced continued improvement in demand for its power systems, while revenue for its System Z mainframes declined significantly in the quarter.
HP held the number two spot, with 26.4% share for the quarter, as revenue decreased 16.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. HP experienced demand challenges for both its x86-based ProLiant servers and Itanium-based Integrity servers in the quarter.
Dell maintained third place, with 14.8% factory revenue market share. Dell was the only top five server vendor to grow in the fourth quarter, experiencing 9.7% year-over-year revenue growth.
Fourth-ranked Oracle experienced a year-over-year revenue decline of 11.5% to a 5.2% share of market, while Fujitsu, ranked number five, experienced a 10.5% decrease in factory revenue.
Linux server demand was positively impacted by high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure deployments, as hardware revenue improved 2.2% year-over-year to $2.6 billion, says IDC. Linux servers now represent 18.4% of all server revenue, up 1.7 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter of 2010.
Microsoft Windows server demand subsided slightly during the period, as hardware revenue decreased 1.5% year-over-year. Quarterly revenue of $6.5 billion for Windows servers represented 45.8% of overall quarterly factory revenue, up 2.6 points over the prior year's quarter.
Unix servers experienced a revenue decline of 10.7% year-over-year to $3.4 billion, representing 24.2% of quarterly server revenue for the quarter. IBM grew Unix server revenue 2.5% year-over-year and gained 7.9 points of Unix server market share compared with the fourth quarter of 2010.
In anticipation of Intel's Sandy Bridge server launch in the first quarter of this year, growth in the x86 server market slowed somewhat in the prior quarter, declining 1.7% to $9.1 billion worldwide, as unit shipments increased 2.9% to 2.1 million servers. Even with the slowdown, this was still the second highest quarterly revenue ever reported for x86 servers, as the architecture accounted for 64.1% of all server spending. Although HP's x86 factory revenue declined 11.7%, it continued to lead the market with 33.3% revenue share. Dell experienced the sharpest growth and retained second place, securing 23% revenue share – a 2.4 point year-over-year share gain. IBM continues to hold third place with 18.2% revenue share, while Fujitsu and Oracle hold 3.1% and 2.7% share, respectively. As a result of a strong demand throughout the year, worldwide x86 server revenue for 2011 increased 7.7% to $34.4 billion, while worldwide x86 unit shipments increased 3.7% to 8 million units.
The blade market continued to experience growth in the fourth quarter, with factory revenue increasing 8.3% year-over-year, while shipment growth increased 1.7% year-over-year. Overall, bladed servers, including x86, EPIC, and RISC blades, accounted for $2.3 billion in revenues, representing 16.1% of quarterly server market revenue.
IDC data shows that 89.6% of all blade revenue is driven by x86-based blades, which now represent 22.5% of all x86 server revenue. HP maintained the number one spot in the server blade market in the fourth quarter, with 47.4% revenue share, while IBM generated 21.5% revenue share. Cisco and Dell rounded out the top four blade server vendors with 11% and 8.7% factory revenue share, gaining 5.3 and 1.3 points of blade market share, respectively.
Density optimized server demand grew 33.8% year-over-year in the quarter to $458 million, as unit shipments increased 51.5% to 132,876 servers. Density optimized servers now represent 3.2% of all server revenue and 6.1% of all server shipments. Dell maintained the number one spot in the density optimized market with 45.2% revenue share, while HP finished second with 15.5% revenue share.
SAN JOSE – The 90-day moving average of semiconductor equipment orders at North America-based manufacturers was $1.18 billion in January, up moderately over the revised December numbers.
TOKYO -- Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported the 90-day moving average bookings fell 3.9% from last year to ￥99,304 million in January.
SANTA CLARA, CA — As flat panel displays become more prevalent in applications such as navigation, multi-functional in-console monitors, and rear seat entertainment, NPD DisplaySearch expects shipments for the automotive segment to grow nearly 50%, from 42 million units in 2011 to 62 million in 2015.
MILWAUKEE, WI – More than half of the engineers polled in a recent ASQ survey said the amount of studying needed to succeed and maintaining high grades in science and math were the primary challenges faced while pursuing an engineering degree.
Forty-three percent said the amount of time spent studying played the biggest role in their success as an engineer, a career with which they’re satisfied, according to the survey.
Twenty-seven percent said instruction from high school teachers and college professors played the biggest role in their success.
Forty-four percent of engineers said the amount of work and study needed to succeed was the primary challenge faced while pursuing an engineering degree, while 14% said maintaining high grades in related subjects, like math and science, was their main challenge. Other challenges provided by engineers include lack of mentorship; poor quality of teachers; selection of available engineering degrees at nearby university, and lack of prep courses in high school.
Despite the challenges faced by engineers in college, most engineers polled are satisfied with their career; only 3% said they are dissatisfied with their career choice. Forty-nine percent are most satisfied with the challenging and interesting nature of the career, while 35% are most satisfied with their contributions to projects and products.
According to the survey results, 33% of the respondents chose to study engineering because they had a natural ability. Other reasons include the desire for a challenging career; the availability of jobs after graduation, and a lifelong interest.
The survey polled 509 ASQ member engineers.
In a different Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of ASQ recently, 67% of youth said they are concerned about the obstacles they would face while pursuing a science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, career. Twenty-five percent of those youth felt pursuing a STEM career involves too much work and studying compared to other career paths, and 25% are concerned their grades in math and science aren’t good enough.
Parents polled by Harris also are concerned their children’s grades aren’t adequate for a STEM career path and are concerned it takes too much time to earn a STEM-related degree.
DALLAS -- Texas Instruments' chief executive says semiconductor manufacturers are poised to see a spike in demand once inventories have been drawn down.
