Workstation shipments in Western Europe grew 23% in 1998 over the previous year, according to International Data Corp’s Copenhagen-based research center. Further compound annual growth rates of 14% are expected over the period 1998-2003. The growth is largely accounted for by a huge increase in shipments of personal workstations, which now account for over three-quarters of all workstations shipped, says IDC.
Despite the unit growth explosion, however, there was a drop in value of 2% to $4.2bn over the previous year, however, as prices plunged. Lars Rasmussen, senior analyst at IDC Copenhagen, said the growth was evidence that a PC-like business model had now been carried over from the desktop market to workstations. With frequent model updates and a lack of technical differentiators, vendors are now competing on price and branding, he said.
