Unix servers and workstations are two of the strongest markets in the European information technology sector according to a series of new reports by market research analyst Frost & Sullivan Inc. The reports, which cover the European workstation and server market, estimate the total value of Unix product shipments, including workstations and servers, amounted to $11,640m in 1994. It expects the market to grow by a compound annual rate of 10.9% to $19,500m by the end of 1999. The RISC-based Unix workstation market – excluding defence – was worth $3,800m (or 300,000 units) in 1994, compared with $3,000m (206,000 units) in 1992. Total turnover should grow by an average of 9% annually until 1999, the report suggests; unit ships by over 18% annually. Six vendors – Digital Equipment Corp, Hewlett-Packard, IBM Corp, Intergraph Corp, Silicon Graphics Inc and Sun Microsystems Inc – share 90% of the market. The four largest – Hewlett and Sun, followed by IBM and DEC, have 85% of this business. Only Pentium Pro/P7 and Windows NT companies can hope to challenge them, says the company. The industrial sector will continue to be the largest user of workstations. Direct sales will decline sharply, with value-added resellers, already influential, becoming increasingly powerful. OEM sales will remain a small percentage. The series of reports, including The European Unix Markets cost $3,800.
