BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC said today the April North American printed circuit board book-to-bill ratio reached 1.10, its highest level since July 2010.

HUNTINGDON, VALLEY, PA – Manncorp has relocated to an expanded corporate headquarters and demo showroom here.

MINNEAPOLIS – Bob D. DuLaney, Lockheed Martin and US Air Force Major General (Ret.), will keynote SMTA International on Oct. 15.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Worldwide PC shipments are now expected to fall 7.8% in 2013, according to an updated forecast from International Data Corp.

HELSINKI -- PKC Group today lowered its operating income outlook due to weaker than estimated profitability at the contract assembler's Brazil unit.

NEW YORK -- First quarter server shipments declined 0.7% worldwide year-on-year, while revenue fell 5%, according to Gartner.

“The first quarter of 2013 was certainly not a strong period for the server market on a global level,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president. “The only regions to post increases were Asia/Pacific and the United States, with Asia/Pacific showing the strongest growth with shipment and revenue increases of 7%  and 1.7%, respectively. While these two regions grew in both shipments and revenue, it was not enough to offset the declines of the other geographies -- all of which declined in server shipments and revenue for the quarter.”

“x86 server shipment growth was flat in the quarter, while revenue increased 1.8%. RISC/Itanium Unix servers declined globally for the period, down 38.8% in shipments and down 35.8%  in vendor revenue compared to the same quarter last year. The ‘other’ CPU category, which is primarily mainframes, exhibited an increase of 3.6% in worldwide revenue.”

IBM had the lead in the worldwide server market based on revenue. The company totaled just over $3 billion in server vendor revenue worldwide, with a total share of 25.5% in the  quarter, down 2.5 percentage points from the same period in 2012. In the first quarter, system x accounted for 29.3% of IBM’s total server revenue.

All the top five vendors suffered revenue declines in the quarter except for Dell, which grew 14.4%.

Table 1. Worldwide: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 1Q13 (US Dollars)

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

In server shipments, HP remained the worldwide leader in the first quarter despite a year-on-year shipment decline of 15.2%. Dell and Cisco were the only vendors in the top five to have positive shipment growth, with increases of 2.6%  and 33%.

In terms of server form factors, blade servers fell 5.9% in shipments and 5% in revenue. Rack-optimized form factor dropped 5.2%  in shipments and 2% in revenue in the first quarter.

Table 2. Worldwide: Server Vendor Shipments Estimates, 1Q13 (Units)

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) server shipments surpassed 580,000 units in the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 6.8% from last year. Server revenue totaled $2.96 billion, a decline of 9.6% from the first quarter last year.

"Following a challenging 2012, 2013 started in very much the same way," said Adrian O'Connell, research director at Gartner. "Budgets are restricted and server infrastructure spending is clearly not the highest priority for many organizations."

Each of the three EMEA subregions suffered a contraction in server revenue in the first quarter of 2013: in Western Europe revenue declined 9.6%, in Eastern Europe it fell 9.4%, and in the Middle East and Africa it decreased 13.4%.

In the first quarter of 2013, x86 server revenue increased 1.8%. RISC/Itanium Unix server revenue declined 54.8% due to migrations to alternative platforms by users seeking lower-cost alternatives and more flexibility. Revenue in the Other CPU segment dropped 9.9% following growth in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Dell and Fujitsu were the only server vendors to exhibit revenue growth in EMEA. The market environment remains difficult for all vendors, but those most exposed to the enterprise customer segment face the biggest challenges.

It will be little consolation to vendors in EMEA that this region did not deliver the worst performance of the quarter, as Japan experienced a 19% decline. Asia/Pacific and US  were the only regions to show growth.

"The reality for server vendors is that spending levels are very low and there is severe weakness in the high-end segment. There are still areas of opportunity, but vendors need to be agile and focused on addressing them. The outlook for 2013 remains challenging," O'Connell said.

Table 3. EMEA: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 1Q13 (US Dollars)

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

Table 4. EMEA: Server Vendor Shipments Estimates, 1Q13 (Units)

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

SAN MATEO, CA – Tablet shipments are expected to grow 58.7% year-over-year in 2013, reaching 229.3 million units, says International Data Corp.

PHOENIX -- Dr. Jim Arnold, a longtime engineer AT&T Bell Labs and Motorola, passed away May 22 after a brief illness. He was 63.

GAITHERSBURG, MD -- The US government is seeking bids for 20 printed circuit boards with components and assembly for a custom laser stabilization and control function project.

BANNOCKBURN, IL -- New guidelines from IPC explain the effects of printed circuit board fabrication processing on board cleanliness.

BRUSSELS -- The European Union is committing 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) toward research on semiconductors and other electronics as part of an effort to catch its Asian and US rivals.

WASHINGTON -- Senators from both US political parties today announced a joint agreement to update the Toxic Substances Control Act to require all chemicals be screened for safety prior to entering the market.