TIBURON, CA—March 10th 2008—In what’s become a common quarterly occurrence, Q4’07 again saw record highs in the workstation market. The market’s been on a roll, posting yearly returns in ’05 and ’06 of 22.1% and 21.2%, respectively. Now Jon Peddie Research is closing the books on calendar ’07 and reports the year finished with a bang.
According to JPR, the fourth quarter saw a total of 847.9 thousand machines shipped, a new high representing 23.5% quarterly growth year-over-year. Revenue rose as well, up over the $2 billion mark for the first time, reflecting robust 19.8% growth.
For the year, over 3 million workstations shipped, posting a gain of 20.5% over 2006. Shipments accounted for a total of $7.2 billion in revenue, an increase of 17.9%.
|
Workstation market results |
Q3CY06 |
Q4CY06 |
Q1CY07 |
Q2CY07 |
Q3CY07 |
Q4CY07 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Units (K) |
618.9 |
686.7 |
694.9 |
719.9 |
762.6 |
847.9 |
|
Total ($M) |
$1,506.0 |
$1,689.4 |
$1,710.7 |
$1,714.8 |
$1,781.9 |
$2,024.0 |
The workstation’s second life better than the first?
The market for workstations isn’t flying under the radar any longer. Dismissed by some as an inconsequential remnant of computing’s past, today’s workstation bears little resemblance to the machine that forged the concept of high-performance, graphical desktop computing back in the 80’s. But though the physical make up of the workstation has changed dramatically, demand for it hasn’t, and the market is now experiencing a very healthy second life.
Those who dismissed the workstation as a dead-end platform based on antiquated technology have missed the big picture. Rather than focusing on the fall of yesterday’s proprietary systems, the real story is the growth of the new breed. While technologies, architectures and business models may change, the demands of the workstation professional — higher reliability, application-tuned performance and application-specific features — haven’t.
Workstations remain a vibrant piece of today’s IT landscape, and those vendors with both the tenacity and foresight to invest in the market continue to be rewarded.