Unix workstation shipments grow as NT market matures

Microsoft's Windows NT workstation market failed to kill off its Unix rivals in 1999, according to figures released last week by analyst IDC.

Unit shipments of Sun's Unix workstations grew 11 per cent last year to capture 85 per cent of the global Unix workstation market in 1999.

This mainly comprised its Ultra 5 and Ultra 10 systems.

Tom Copeland, IDC's vice president of workstation research, said the growth of the traditional Unix workstation market had been expected to slow because of the increasing strength of the NT market, but that the number of Unix units shipped worldwide actually increased to 609,428.

Copeland said: "Most vendors have focused on maintaining their existing customer base. Sun, however, is aggressively working to increase its business by tapping into new application segments. Sun's success in internet development accounts has done much to slow the migration from Unix to NT-based systems."

Hewlett Packard retained the number two spot with 14.5 per cent market share, and IBM came third with 13 per cent of the Unix workstation market.

Despite the excitement over Unix, shipments of Windows NT workstations remained strong in 1999. However IDC said that the rapid growth of 1997 and 1998 has cooled as the market begins to reach maturity.

Dell captured the number one position in shipments of branded NT workstations after being in the market for a little over two years. It shipped 25 per cent of the one million units sold worldwide last year.

Hewlett Packard dropped to second place, but remained top in Europe. HP's unit shipment fell 25 per cent from 1998, but still accounted for 23 per cent of the worldwide workstation market.