The Bangladesh PC-Server market recorded a 23.8 percent growth in the January-March period of 2006 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to a recent research result.

This is announced by Springboard Research, a Singapore-based leading innovator in the IT market research industry, Bangladeshi daily The Financial Express reported Thursday.

According to the daily, a total of 45,074 PC-Server units were shipped in the first three months of this year. Continued healthy economic indicators and increased investment from the home and government segments helped accelerate the PC-Server market growth.

From the usage perspective, large enterprises are currently the dominant segment of the market, contributing around 23 per cent to the total PC-Server shipments. The large corporations -- particularly in banking and telecommunication sector -- are the key customers driving the market growth.

The government segment showed a strong growth of 30.7 percent annually, mainly due to the increased automation activities of local and national bodies along with improving economic indicators in Bangladesh.

The SMB (small and medium-sized business) market represents a significant portion of shipments of 33.9 percent in Bangladesh but receives limited focus from IT vendors due to the substantial opportunities in the government and large enterprise sectors.

"Bangladesh is one of the key emerging countries in southeast Asia. The increased investments from multinational IT vendors and IT promotion bodies in the country have accelerated the nation's IT market growth," Manish Bahl, senior analyst of Springboard Research,was quoted as saying.

If the domestic political situation improves and stabilizes, the market could grow faster than expected, he said, adding that there are many unexplored opportunities in Bangladesh PC market which are yet to be exploited.

"We expect PC-Server shipments to increase approximately 22.1 percent in 2006 and then slow down in the first half of 2007 mainly due to the election and political scenario," he said.

Source: Xinhua