The emergence of the new HP could be good for users as rival
vendors compete on price, performance and cutting edge technology
in the Intel server market.
Figures from Gartner Dataquest on worldwide server shipments for
the first quarter of 2002 show how much HP has suffered during the
protracted merger process, with sales down 13.3%.
Compaq led the field with 22.8% of market share, Dell was second
with 17.8%, IBM third on 14.3%, followed by HP with just 8.6% of
the market. While the merged HP/Compaq will clearly lead the
market, it has to convince users that its new product range is
compelling.
The new HP is pulling the plugs on its Netserver range and making
Compaq's Proliant 32-bit server family the core of its offering.
Some HP models will survive at the low end of the Intel server
market while Compaq's e-class products will form the core of the
blade server product line. Some HP blade servers, aimed
specifically at the telecoms market, will remain in
production.
The new company has pledged to honour the terms and conditions
under which all products were purchased and to provide or make
available hardware maintenance services for five years after the
date of last sale of any industry standard server product.
"HP is carrying through a logical rationalisation of the product
range," said Thomas Meyer, European server group manager at
analysts IDC. "Compaq has market share and the installed base,
while HP had intrinsic problems in its product line."
He said HP risked alienating users and channel partners with the
speed at which it was dropping the HP Netservers, but added, "at
least the future is clear".
The new HP's rivals are all making a bid for market share. "IBM,
Sun and Dell, are all hoping to make a killing from the merger,"
said Meyer, however, he added, "They may have been surprised by the
speed with which HP laid out its product roadmaps."
Dell, he said, is likely to wage a price war at the low end of the
market to win volume from HP, while IBM is likely to attack HP
across the whole product range.
Compaq has traditionally been the driving force in PC server
innovation but IBM has put considerable effort into
technology.
IDC analyst Martin Hingley said IBM's X-architecture is providing
mainframe-like resilience on its xSeries PC servers. IBM is also
offering xSeries high-end clustering via its SP switching
technology.
"IBM will be price aggressive and its products are feature rich and
it is working hard with its channel partners and offering
attractive financing options," said Meyer. "Fujitsu Siemens, while
less of a force in the UK than Europe, will also be marketing
aggressively," he added.
For IT departments, Meyer said, it is an excellent time to shop
around. When considering suppliers, he said: "Don't just think
about the price of the box, see what long term agreements are on
offer. Ask to see the vendor's strategic roadmap and see what else
they can offer you."