Sri Lanka’s PC/Server market registers 13.5 per cent growth

Springboard Res earch, a leading innovator in the IT market research industry, reported that Sri Lanka’s PC/Server market registered a year-to-year growth rate of 13.5 per cent in Q3 (July-September) 2007 with 56,806 units shipped, up from 50,035 units in Q3 2006.

Demand from the home and government segments was the key growth driver in Q3 2007, while large enterprise procurement-especially from the telecom, banking, and healthcare industries-also contributed to growth.

An increase in defense spending, as well as rising inflation and interest rates has however contained the overall IT demand in the country.

Among the major brand players, HP led the market with a 17.7 per cent share, ahead of Dell and Lenovo in second and third spot respectively.

Also worth noting was the remarkable growth witnessed by both the local players-Maya and Panora-in the third quarter of 2007. Among the different segments, the home segment generated the greatest share (23.2%) of total PC shipments in Q3 2007, followed by the large enterprise (500+ employees) and government segments.

“The continued growth in the home sector is mainly due to the increased vendor focus on the consumer segment along with the IT literacy drive by the government and ICTA,” said analyst at Springboard Research, Shipra Sanganeria.

Government and SME segments continued to grow during Q3 2007, but at a slower pace compared to the large enterprises. “Many organizations in the SME segment have put their current IT spending on hold and are waiting for the country’s overall security and economic situation to stabilize.

Even the education sector is continuing to witness a decline in its overall ICT spending. However, in the coming years, we can expect the sector to see increased procurement as the government has some plans to enhance the country’s overall ICT development and literacy,” added Sanganeria.

In order to accelerate the IT adoption, the Sri Lankan government has recently partnered with the Indian government to set up IT parks in the country.

The government’s e-Sri Lanka initiative also uses ICT for economic development, reduction in poverty and improving the quality of living in the country.