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FRAMINGHAM, MA – Fourth quarter sales of servers fell 0.2% year-over-year to $14.5 billion, the first such drop since the first quarter of 2003, IDC said this week.

Worldwide unit shipment growth slowed to 10.6%. Volume systems grew 7.3% year-on-year

Revenue for midrange enterprise servers dropped 11.5% versus last year and high-end servers fell 1.7%.

"The volume server market continues to evolve as richer server configurations driven by both scale-out cluster implementations and scale-up server virtualization initiatives continue to drive increased customer spending," said Matthew Eastwood, program vice president of IDC's Worldwide Server Group. "However, even in the volume segment, the quarterly unit shipment growth of 11.5% was two-thirds the year-over-year unit growth rate observed in 4Q04, illustrating a transition toward more richly configured systems in the market."

IBM retained the top spot, with 38.4% share in factory revenue on a 0.8% rise in sales over a year ago. HP was next with a 26.8% share, with sales up 3.8%, followed by Dell (9.6% share, 7.3% revenue growth), Sun (8.2% share on a sales drop of 10.9%) and Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens (4.3% share, on a 10.9% revenue decline).

HP was tops in shipments, with a 30.2% share, growing shipments 8.8% year over year. Dell, with a 23.3% share, up from 21.3%., was second.

SAN JOSE -- January bookings of semiconductor gear from North America-based manufacturers reached the highest point in 15 months, SEMI said

The three-month average basis of orders for semiconductor equipment was $1.26 billion in January, up 10% from December and 27% year-over-year.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The January 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 2.7% year-on-year, while bookings rose 10.8%, according to the latest poll of North American PCB fabricators.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio was 1.13. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

HERNDON, VA — The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) has scheduled a full-day roadmap workshop on April 5, coinciding with Semicon Europa in Munich, in an effort to include European perspectives in the 2007 Roadmap.

The workshop will give a “sneak peak” of draft chapters of the 2007 iNEMI Roadmap, including two key market segments and seven of the 19 technology and infrastructure areas covered. The session will also allow discussion and input of the draft chapters.

The $200 registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, social hour and a copy of the 2007 iNEMI Roadmap CD when published. Registration deadline is March 28 (earlier if the meeting reaches capacity).

The workshop is co-sponsored by Fraunhofer IZM, IEEE’s CPMT (Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology) Society and IMAPS Europe.

For an agenda and more details, visit
inemi.org/cms/calendar/iNEMI_Roadmap_European_Workshop_Apr_2006.html.

NORWALK, CT – Sales of digital home entertainment gear will reach reaching $411 billion by 2010, an average annual growth rate of almost 20% over the $166 billion posted in 2005, said BCC Research.

Hubs and nodes are the largest device segment, accounting for 56% of total device sales in 2004 and 55% in 2010.

PHILADELPHIA – The American Competitiveness Institute has been awarded a five-year, $150 million contract by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research.

Under the contract, ACI will continue to operate and manage the Electronics Manufacturing Technology Center, which is already located at ACI, and perform research for electronics manufacturing technology (ManTech) programs for the Navy and other Department of Defense services.