Workstation
The Workstation Market Finds Its Groove in Q3’12, Reports Jon Peddie Research.
TIBURON, Calif. — The clouds appear to be clearing. Workstation
vendors had to be relieved by third quarter market results, as the
industry found some sorely-needed footing, yielding some positive — and
very welcome — gains. Jon Peddie Research has announced the release of
the
JPR
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Workstation Report market quarterly for Q3’12, part of the
firm’s industry-leading workstation research service.
Going back to fourth quarter of 2011, the workstation market had hit
some roadblocks, suffering three consecutive down quarters. But that
string was
mercifully
adj.
Full of mercy; compassionate: See Synonyms at humane.
mer
broken in the third quarter of this year.
Alex
Herrera
, JPR Senior Analyst and JPR Workstation Report author, reports
that workstation vendors shipped about 932 thousand branded
workstations, representing an increase of 5.5% over Q2’12.
Especially considering that third quarter shipments often take a dip
after Q2, that otherwise modest 5.5% figure is a sight for sore
OEMs’ eyes.
PCs and workstations are different
Good news in a PC-related marketplace? How is that possible, when
the PC market is in a global slump and looking at a contraction for the
year1? Well, the third quarter results are evidence that, despite
sharing much of the same core technologies, PCs and workstations
aren’t the same thing. “Consumer-grade PCs might be suffering
at the hands of tablets and smartphones, but these alternative computing
devices do not present the same threat to workstations,” points out
Herrera.
“If your usage is limited to email, social media and
web-browsing, then a tablet might be an attractive replacement for your
PC, but the same doesn’t hold for professionals that demand the
utmost in performance, reliability and ergonomics. For engineers,
scientists, researchers and creators of all kinds, there is simply no
substitute for a workstation.”
“However,” added Jon Peddie, “Tablets are finding
their place alongside workstations as engineers take them into the field
for checking drawings and capturing site data and pictures.”
HP holds steady at #1, while Lenovo continues to make strides
With 41.4% of units sold, HP maintained unquestioned control over
the workstation market, clearly separating itself from Dell at 30.7%,
down from the previous quarter’s 32.5%. Lenovo continued its record
of steady, rising to 13.3%, while Fujitsu rounded out the Tier 1
rankings with 3.9%. Herrera estimates that non-Tier 1 suppliers were
responsible for the remaining 10.8%.
Professional graphics market perks up as well
The related market for professional graphics hardware had been stuck
in the same
doldrums
or area around the earth centered slightly north of the equator between the two belts of trade winds.
as workstations, but the third quarter yielded good
results for suppliers Nvidia and
AMD
as well. Sequentially, shipments
fell 3.4% to around 1.06 million units, including both deskside add-in
cards as well as mobile GPUs. But Herrera points out there were two
sides to that coin. “Mobile
GPU
see secret police.
(Graphics Processing Unit) A specialized logic chip devoted to rendering 2D or 3D images. Display adapters contain one or more GPUs for fast graphics rendering.
shipments dropped dramatically for
the quarter, but that was likely one quarter’s aberration, rather
than an indication of any systemic weakness in the segment,”
Herrera explained. “Consider instead the 7.1% sequential gain in
conventional professional graphics add-in cards, and the quarter’s
results do far more to bolster our confidence than
erode
, city (1991 urban agglomeration pop. 361,755), Tamil Nadu state, S India, on the Kaveri River. The city is located in a cotton-growing region, and its industries include cotton ginning and the manufacture of transport equipment.
it.”
About the JPR Workstation Report
Now in its twelfth year, JPR’s Workstation Report -
Professional Computing Markets and Technologies has established itself
as the essential reference guide for hardware and software vendors and
suppliers serving the workstation and professional graphics markets.
Subscribers to the JPR Workstation Report receive two in-depth
reports per year providing a comprehensive analysis of the vendors and
technologies driving the workstation platform. Clients also receive four
quarterly reports detailing and analyzing market results for each
calendar quarter. For information about purchasing the JPR Workstation
Report, please call 415-435-9368 or visit Jon Peddie Research at
http://www.jonpeddie.com.
Based in
Tiburon, California
, Jon Peddie Research provides
consulting, research, and other specialized services to technology
companies, including graphics development, multimedia for professional
applications and consumer electronics, high-end computing, and
Internet-access product development.
1 IDC
EDITOR’S NOTE: Excerpts from the JPR Workstation Report and
expert interviews are available on request.