The Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) also reported
that domestic shipments of mid-range computers in the first half of
fiscal 1998 (April-September) were 337,349 million yen (US$2,760 million)
in value, a four percent increase over the same period of last year.
The drastic decrease of workstation*1)
shipments was attributed to the fact that manufacturers, which usually
account for 59 percent of the value, recorded a 50 percent decrease
from the same period last year. In terms of units, workstations shipments
decreased by 15 percent from the same period last year to 54,468 units.
Shipments in units of mid-range computers*2) remained almost unchanged from
the same period last year, recording 65,768 units. The proliferation
of the Internet and corporate intranets contributed greatly to the shipments
of mid-range computers, which maintained the level as the same period
of last year in terms of both units and value.
With regard to shipments by industry, the public industry increased its
share as a result of the 25 percent increase in value. The financial
industry recorded a 37 percent increase, which is larger than that achieved
by the public industry, though it has a smaller share than the public
industry.
This is both because investment in open systems has been accelerating
in the public arena, and because a system to cope with the Big Bang
is under way in the financial industry, JEIDA reported.
In terms of the price range, the trend has become more distinct that
network operating system (NOS) servers are in the lower price range
and UNIX servers are in the higher price range.
In the price range of less than three million yen (US$24,600), shipments
of NOS servers were 46,360 million yen (US$380 million), a 36 percent
increase over the same period last year, whereas shipments of UNIX servers
decreased by 18 percent to 11,368 million yen (US$93.1 million).
In the price range between 3 million yen and 10 million yen (US$82,000),
shipments of NOS servers decreased by 50 percent to 6,581 million yen
(US$53.9 million) from the same period last year. Shipments of UNIX
servers, however, recorded a modest decrease of 6 percent to 47,842
million yen (US$392 million). In the price range of more than 40 million
yen (US$328,000), shipments of UNIX servers increased to 29,692 million
yen (US$243 million), up 93 percent over the same period last year.
JEIDA forecasted in June 1998 that shipments of mid-range computers in
fiscal 1998 would increase by 3 percent in value and 5 percent in units
over last year. Judging from the fact that shipments of UNIX servers
priced at more than 40 million yen apiece were good, JEIDA modified
its forecast and predicted that shipments of mid-range computers would
increase by 5 percent in value and 2 percent in units in fiscal 1998
over last year.
It also forecasted in June 1998 that shipments of workstations in fiscal
1998 would decrease by 3 percent in value and increase by 5 percent
in units over last year, but it modified its forecast and predicted
that they will decrease by 25 percent in value and 12 percent in units
from last year.
The statistics were worked out using domestic shipments of mid-range
computers and workstations specified by JEIDA. Data of mid-range computers
were collected from 19 domestic manufacturers, and those of workstations
were from 15 domestic manufacturers.
* 1) Workstation is a computer with a high-resolution display
that can operate in single-user and multi-tasking environments.
(return to news)
*2) Mid-range computers are positioned between mainframes and
workstations. They are used as servers in client/server systems. They
are divided into UNIX servers, network OS servers and proprietary OS
servers depending on the operating system they employ. They can operate
in multi-user and multi-tasking environments. Servers for personal computers
are excluded.
(return to news)
(BizTech News Dept.)
<Visit News Center for more Asian news.>
|
