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Market intelligence on the Mechanical
Engineering Sector
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| Each
month CAD
SPAGHETTI
will
provide market intelligence from our database of nearly 20,000 UK
CAD/CAM user sites. This
month, we compare data gathered from the Mechanical Engineering
sector between 1997 and 2000 on operating systems, number of CAD
seats, hardware, PC brands and workstations.
Operating
systems
In
1997, Windows 95 was marginally the most common operating system
(OS) in the sector, used by almost 40% of sites.
DOS and Windows 3.1 were both installed in a third of
companies. UNIX was
the OS used by one in five Mechanical Engineering companies in
1997. |
The
UK CAD/CAM User Site Database contains in-depth information
for each record covering some 150 separate data items. The
data is updated twice a year by our specialist IT researchers.
The scope for analysis is huge, but here are a few facts, comparing
data between 1997 and 2000. The base size taken for
this analysis was in excess of 600 sites in the mechanical
engineering sector for each year looked at.
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1998
saw the decline of DOS, Windows 3.1 and UNIX.
Use of Windows NT almost doubled from the previous year, while
Windows 95 extended its lead as the most commonly used operating system,
installed in around 57% of Mechanical Engineering company sites.
By
2000, DOS and Windows 3.1 had almost disappeared, while nearly a third of
the sites had taken up Windows 98. Windows NT continued its rise in popularity, operating in
half of company sites.
Number
of CAD/CAM seats
The
most common number of CAD seats per site in the Mechanical Engineering
sector is 2 to 5. In 1997, 43% of sites fell under this band, growing to 50% in
1998, and then falling to 40% in 2000.
The proportion of sites with only one CAD seat dropped from 30% in
1997 to 21% in 2000.
Hardware
platform
The
PCs’ position as the predominant hardware is confirmed by an increase in
use from 85% of the sites in 1997, to 93% in 2000.
The
use of workstations by around one in five sites remained fairly constant
between 1997-2000. Other hardware platforms are (Mainframes, Apple Mac and Mini
Computers) used by around 1% of mechanical engineering sites.
PC
brands
Between
1997 and 2000, Compaq, Dell, HP and Gateway all increased market share
among mechanical engineering sites. Eight
times more companies bought Gateway PCs in 2000 than they did in 1997.
However,
‘clones’ are the leading PC brand in the Mechanical Engineering
sector, i.e. PC brands outside of the top twelve or so individually well
known PC
brands, that are each used by less than 1% of total sites.
Workstations
SUN
dominates workstation sales to the Mechanical Engineering sector; half of
workstation users had this brand installed in 2000.
Hewlett Packard’s workstations are installed in over a third of
companies.
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You
can access more
information about our database of 20,000
UK CAD/CAM using sites from the Business Advantage website,
or by contacting David Eaton on
+44 (0)1689 873636.
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