The market dynamics within the Canadian server market continue to evolve with new technologies such as cloud computing, virtualization, and trends such as consolidation, which are tempering demand for servers. However, as growth rates continue to moderate, better segmentation helps identify and target areas of opportunity. Increasingly, this segmentation is along a customer size segment view, with preferences by vendor, OS, and architecture differing by size of organization. Viewing the server market through a customer size perspective provides server vendors with the insight required to increase revenue and grow market share. The Canadian Quarterly x86 Server Tracker® is a data-driven product analyzing the Canadian server market from both a customer size and a channel perspective. An appreciation of demand among various segments helps in identifying growth opportunities and maximizes the impact of sales and marketing campaigns by enabling clients to closely align their initiatives within the target markets. This product is intended to help product marketing managers, vice presidents of sales, marketing managers, and general managers at server hardware, software, and service vendors.
Technology Coverage and Data Segmentation
This tracker provides total market size and vendor share for the technology areas and segmentations that follow. Measurement for this tracker is in shipments and revenue.
Technologies and subtechnologies:
x86 server
Segmentations:
Channels: Direct versus indirect
Company size: Small, medium, large, very large, education, and government
Vendor segmentation: IBM, HP, Dell, Sun, and others
Company size segments: 1–99 employees; 100–499 employees; 500–999 employees; 1,000+ employees; education; and government
Segmentation by socket capability and rack factor
Geographic Scope
Canada
Forecast Coverage
Forecasts for this tracker are updated quarterly and include two years of quarterly forecasts by quarter and three years of annual forecasts. Examples of the segmentations being forecast for this tracker include:
Company size: Small, medium, large, very large, education, and government
Channel: Direct versus indirect
Delivery Schedule and Deliverables
This tracker is delivered on a quarterly basis as a pivot table. The delivery schedule for this tracker is as follows:
Preliminary top 5: Week 6 after period closes
Historical data: Week 10 after period closes
Forecast data: Week 12 after period closes
IDC's Tracker Methodology
IDC's tracker data is developed using a rigorous methodology that includes well-planned and well-coordinated local, regional, and worldwide data cross-checks combined with a proprietary advanced data consolidation and analysis data platform managed by IDC's Worldwide Tracker organization. Data sources used in the process of determining IDC's tracker numbers include, but are not limited to:
In-country local vendor interviews
Distribution data feeds
Worldwide and regional vendor guidance
ODM data
In-country local channel partner discussions
Import records
Feedback from component suppliers
Vendor briefings and public financial reports
Enabling Better Business Decisions Across the Organization
IDC trackers provide the accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecast information you need to identify market and product expansion opportunities, increase revenues, and win market share. IDC's tracker research is a critical input to the planning and monitoring cycles of the business process. Common uses of the tracker data include:
Planning Process
Regional, state or city-level planning — setting regional, country, state or city-level sales targets based on market opportunity
Product marketing — creating a product strategy and road map based on currently available product features and expected growth
Production planning — using customer demand data as an input in the creation of production schedules
Product portfolio planning — accessing accurate and detailed data as an input into the product development process
Monitoring Process
Performance measurement — comparing vendor performance on prior fiscal periods
