Low end server sales boost Compaq's market lead

Compaq has stretched its lead in the UK server market with a 47 per cent share in the first quarter of this year, according to IDC research figures. The statistics are a boost to the company's server division which is next week due to announce price cuts on the ProSignia 200, server bundling deals with Novell and Cheyenne, a low cost RAID controller and extended enterprise server features including rack mounts.

UK PC server market growth over the past year has been at around 20 per cent, of which Compaq has claimed about a quarter share. In the first quarter last year, Compaq commanded a 38 per cent share. Compaq's nearest rivals are Hewlett-Packard with 11.6 per cent, Dell with 11.2 per cent and IBM with 8.3 per cent.

Helen Twelvetree, Compaq's systems product manager attributed the first quarter rise to the successful take-up of the company's sub-£1000 server which was launched in January. The ProSignia 200 5/166 Model 1/EIDE (16Mb) was priced at £995 to attract small business users and since 13 January , the company has sold "in excess of 800 units in the UK," according to Twelvetree.

Hugh Jenkins, Enterprise Group product manager at Compaq added that the ProSignia 200 is attracting a lot of peer-to-peer network users who want to upgrade to a dedicated server. "This is a growing market and any vendor who is not offering a server in the sub-£1000 bracket is missing a trick," he said.

Referring to IBM's Thames South Bank office in London, Jenkins said, "the guys the other side of the river have been rattling their sabres but haven't done anything about addressing the low end server market. We have and are now offering products for all market categories. The market doesn't have to start at the Pentium Pro level."

Details regarding the new products, price cuts and bundling deals are not available until Tuesday 6 May, to coincide with a US announcement.