After 30 years of trying, Siemens has finally taken the top spot in its domestic mainframe market. According to new figures from International Data Corp, the Munich-based company now has 41% of the German market – ahead of IBM Corp – and 18.1% of the mainframe market in Western Europe.
It is the first time Siemens has topped IBM in Germany, but it may turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory. IDC also noted that the overall market shrank by 2.1%. This suggests the company’s success has less to do with any outstanding merit of the Siemens’ BS2000 environment compared with IBM’s OS/390, and more to do with the general slow down in OS/390 and other proprietary OS sales. Separately, Siemens also reported that it has shipped its 200th SR2000 entry-level mainframe machine.
