Smaby Group estimates the market for high-end technical and scientific systems valued at more than $100,000 will grow 20% to $3.67bn this year from $3.08bn in 1998. It believes increased demand for technical and engineering applications and the introduction of a new class of high-end SMP systems from Sun, HP and others are the primary reasons. Systems valued at under $1m constitute 70% of the market as the industry moves away from vector processors to systems using commodity microprocessors. Smaby expects the market to continue to grow at 20% on the back of new SMP systems, then fall back to reach $6.42bn in 2002.
