Acer is signing an agreement with HDS (Hitachi Data Systems) to jointly target the Asia Pacific SAN (Storage Area Network) market, as more small and medium enterprises adopt SAN solutions. Under the agreement Acer will supply servers to HDS, and will gain rights from HDS to distribute SAN in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

The agreement is part of Acer's drive to move into higher-end offerings, as well as gain a larger piece of the server market in both Western Europe and Asia. In India, server shipments have already surpassed the combined volume of desktop and notebook PCs.

 

The company has indicated that server revenue grew 30% year on year in the first quarter of 2004, while second quarter revenue is expected to increase by 50% year on year. Share of servers equipped with dual processors or that incorporate storage network functionality is also anticipated to climb.