Sun dominates local Unix server market - BMI-T survey

Sun Microsystems has once again dominated the volume Unix server and systems market in South Africa. That's according to the latest BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T) survey, 'South Africa Commercial Systems and Server Forecast and Analysis 2002-2007'.

The survey found that Sun achieved the largest growth of all the vendors in the volume server market in terms of both unit shipments and revenue, and also dominated the high-end enterprise server market. This was despite a 6% decline in the volume server shipments. Server revenues, however, rose by 22% compared to 2001.

BMI-T says that the difference between unit shipment growth and revenue growth indicates that the average Sun system sold in 2002 was of much higher value than in 2001.

"This indicates that customers are using Sun systems in more powerful configurations than before, confirming the trend that Unix-based Solaris systems are improving their position in the data centre," the report points out.

Sun increased its revenue by 130% in the high-end category to claim a market share of 38,1% - up from 22,2% in 2001 - and the number one spot from IBM. In terms of units sold, Sun achieved a 50% increase in sales in the high-end server market to record a share of 37%.

BMI-T says that Sun claimed an 84,8% stake in the entry-level (<$3000 per server) Unix market and a healthy 72% of the high-end (>$500K per server) Unix segment. "As a whole, Sun owns 48,8% of the Unix market in South Africa and 19% of the overall systems market in terms of revenue," BMI-T states.

Comments Stefano Mattiello, managing director for Sun's sub-Saharan Africa region: "Sun is the undisputed leader in the South African Unix market in terms of unit sales and revenue generation. This is a noteworthy achievement considering the tough conditions we trade under in South Africa, the volatile nature of the rand against the US dollar, and the reduced IT spending trends."