UK server market escapes slump

European market declines overall

The UK server market continues to show growth despite overall European decline, according to the latest quarterly figures from research firm IDC.

The western European server market contracted again in the second quarter this year after dropping by 22.5 per cent in the first quarter, IDC claimed.

Western European factory revenues fell by 17 per cent from $3.5bn in the second quarter of 2001 to $2.9bn in Q2 this year.

The second quarter was the first in which IBM's dominance was challenged, with Hewlett-Packard (HP)/Compaq taking the top spot in the revenue stakes.

"The gruelling competition fuelled by continually constrained budgets made its mark on the western European server market again, affecting most but not all countries," said Thomas Meyer, expertise centre manager at IDC's European server group.

"The UK continued to show annual growth, but weakness in the German, French and Italian markets weighed heavily. As corporate budgets remained tight, vendors kept focusing on the SME market, server and application consolidation issues and solution stack building."

In the first quarter after its merger with Compaq, HP gained the top position in the western European market in terms of factory revenues.

IBM gained a percentage market share point and declined at a slower rate than HP, but the combined portfolio of HP and Compaq translated into a $114m lead in factory revenue.

Of the top-tier vendors, only Dell showed annual unit and factory revenue growth, gaining one percentage point market share over the quarter a year ago. The top five players are now HP, IBM, Sun, Fujitsu Siemens and Dell.