New report puts IBM back on top of server market | | 2008-07-08 | | Computer industry market analysts, Gartner, has revised its worldwide server revenue figures for the first quarter, cutting estimated growth by almost half and returned IBM to the position of market leader.
In May, Gartner reported that first-quarter server revenue grew by 4.3%, and Hewlett-Packard had overtaken IBM for the top spot. But closer analysis of the data prompted Gartner to lower the increase to 2.5% compared to the same period last year, dropping HP to second place.
The revised data shows that IBM accounted for 29.4% of first-quarter global server revenue and HP 28.3%. Total market revenue was $13.3 billion, compared with $13 billion a year ago. The following highest vendors and their market share were Dell, 12.3%; Sun Microsystems, 9.9%; and Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens, 5.5%.
HP remained the leader in terms of server shipments however, accounting for 30.1% of the market, followed by Dell, 22.7%; IBM 13.3%; Sun, 3.7%; and Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens, 3.5%. Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens was the only vendor in the top five to post a decline in shipments, which fell 2.6% from a year ago. Shipments overall reached 2.3 million units, or 7.6% more than a year ago.
Although IBM shipments are lower, its revenue is higher because it sells fewer commodity systems and more high-end mainframe systems. Nevertheless, the race with rival HP is still close.
"We commented in the previous release that HP and IBM continue to vie for market leadership in the worldwide server market based on revenue," Gartner analyst Jeffrey Hewitt said in a statement. "This is still the case, but the updated data shows that IBM maintained the No. 1 vendor position in worldwide server revenue in the first quarter of 2008."
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