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The workstation market in Q3’18: Economic conditions and demand drive the market to record levels

Vendors are justifiably more confident to hang their hats on the workstation market than most other PC-related markets. And for good reason, the workstation does not suffer (at least not to a substantial degree) from the forces that have been dragging on the mainstream PC market as of late, namely lagging replacement cycles due to reaching “good enough” computing levels, ...

Alex Herrera

Vendors are justifiably more confident to hang their hats on the workstation market than most other PC-related markets. And for good reason, the workstation does not suffer (at least not to a substantial degree) from the forces that have been dragging on the mainstream PC market as of late, namely lagging replacement cycles due to reaching “good enough” computing levels, as well as the alternative digital devices like smartphones obsoleting the need for a desktop or mobile PC. As such, we’ve continued to see the workstation market on a very different trendline than its sibling PC-related markets.

The third quarter of 2018 provided more evidence, with another record set of results in the books for workstation market stakeholders. Year-over-year, the workstation market logged 11.4% gains, while its sister and supporting market for professional graphics GPUs saw even more robust growth of 20.1%. The triumvirate of Dell, HP and Lenovo managed to account for the lion’s share of units, totaling 89.3% of the total market (with the remaining 10.7% shared among Tier 2 providers and system integrators).

The driving force behind the continued bullish performance in both markets is clear. Capex budgets remain quite healthy, while demand for higher performance, which buyers expect to translate directly to higher productivity, has no foreseeable end. Even better, the market appears quite evenly tempered, reflecting in robust but not overly exuberant results, a situation more likely to foster steady, less volatile growth moving forward (macroeconomic conditions allowing, of course). 

 

Providing the most comprehensive look at the workstation market available, the JPR Workstation Report Market Quarterly for Q3’18 delves into breadth and depth across all slices of the workstation and professional GPU markets, including:

  • Complete breakdown of traditional workstation market by units and revenue, and across product classes (mobile/entry/mid/high), platforms (mobile/entry/mid/high), geography and vendors
  • Workstation market forecast
  • Complete breakdown of workstation GPU market by units and revenue, across product classes and vendors
  • Breakdown of workstation market by vertical
  • Analysis and sizing of the impact of Apple platforms versus Windows/Linux workstations
  • Analysis and sizing of the impact of emerging workstation virtualization (in its multiple forms)
  • Analysis and sizing the impact of Intel's CPU-integrated graphics