In further signs of IT market stabilization from the economic downturn, the latest figures from analyst firm IDC show that the MEA server market was worth US$340 million last quarter. MEA has had a double-digit share of the overall EMEA marketplace for the last three successive quarters, showing its growing importance versus Eastern and Western Europe which have seemingly been slower to gain ground again after the downturn.
The MEA market is now worth 11.7% of the overall pot, growing from single digits a year ago. IDC has been positive in its outlook for MEA, stating that the market here is recovering faster than its European counterparts. Much of the growth can be attributed to increasing sales of standard servers - about 44% of all sales - but there are also other reason why the market is returning to server purchase after a hiatus caused by budgetary prudence.
For starters, standard servers - the workhorses of many businesses in the MEA market, such as x86 servers - provided the best overall value proposition. Driven by new processors from AMD and Intel, these servers often provide a return on investment of less than a year, making the business case for investment more straightforward. Coupled with the fact that these systems can be bought fully configured, saving on the costs of tweaking and tuning for specific server environments, IDC and Gartner expect this sector to continue growing.
The MEA market is now worth 11.7% of the overall pot, growing from single digits a year ago. IDC has been positive in its outlook for MEA, stating that the market here is recovering faster than its European counterparts. Much of the growth can be attributed to increasing sales of standard servers - about 44% of all sales - but there are also other reason why the market is returning to server purchase after a hiatus caused by budgetary prudence.
For starters, standard servers - the workhorses of many businesses in the MEA market, such as x86 servers - provided the best overall value proposition. Driven by new processors from AMD and Intel, these servers often provide a return on investment of less than a year, making the business case for investment more straightforward. Coupled with the fact that these systems can be bought fully configured, saving on the costs of tweaking and tuning for specific server environments, IDC and Gartner expect this sector to continue growing.
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