The flight from proprietary systems is now getting under way with a vengeance: Japan’s shipments of small business computers – the IBM Corp System 36-type machines that have largely disappeared from manufacturers’ catalogues in the US and Europe, for the first half of the current financial year to March 31 plunged 20.7% from a year earlier to 68,541 units. In terms of value, the fall was even worse, 22.4%. Quoting findings by the Electronics Industries Association of Japan, the Jiji Japanese news service says half-yearly shipments now have fallen below the year-earlier levels in each of the past five periods. Association officials expect however that shipments in the second half of the year to March will match the year-earlier levels, reflecting, says the wire service, the trend toward open computer systems and the government’s support for the expansion of computer networks in Japan. Breaking down the current figures, shipments to the manufacturing sector plunged 31.2%. Those to wholesalers and trading firms fell 20.7% and those to service companies fell 28.2%. But shipments to the public sector rose 2.5% by volume, in part because of measures taken under the government’s economic stimulation package and those to financial institutions rose 7.0%, but most other sectors fell as firms held back telecommunications investment in the economic downturn.
