Gartner: Q3 server shipments head north

Analyst's latest figures reveal a first-place scuffle between IBM and HP, as market conditions continue to bite

IBM and HP continue to battle it out at the top of the global server table, with IBM the top performer in revenue terms and HP in the top spot in terms of shipments.

Gartner’s latest third-quarter figures reveal global server shipments increased 7.2 per cent year on year, with revenue jumping 5.2 per cent, with three of the top-five global vendors seeing revenue increases. HP saw a 3.6 per cent decline in turnover, and Oracle saw flat growth.

Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner, said: “The third quarter of 2011 produced growth on a global level, but there was some significant variation in growth by region.

“All regions showed growth in both shipments and vendor revenue, except for Western Europe, which posted a 4.9 per cent decline in revenue for the period. Asia/Pacific grew the most significantly in shipments, with a 23.9 per cent increase. Eastern Europe posted the highest vendor revenue growth at 27.3 per cent for the period,” he said.

IBM topped the market in terms of server revenue estimates with $3.84bn sales, followed closely by HP, with $3.8bn. Dell was third, Oracle fourth and Fujitsu fifth.

However, in terms of shipments, HP topped the global board with a 29 per cent market share, with Dell in second place and IBM in third. Fujitsu was fourth and Lenovo fifth.

In EMEA, server shipments increased 4.3 per cent from the same period last year, but revenue dropped 0.5 per cent to $3.25bn.

HP topped the charts in the region, followed by IBM, Dell, Oracle and Fujitsu. HP also came top in terms of shipments, Gartner revealed, with a whopping 42 per cent market share, with Dell second, IBM third, Fujitsu fourth and Oracle fifth.

Adrian O’Connell, research director at Gartner, said: “The market’s recovery faltered this quarter as challenging economic conditions in Western Europe dragged down spending levels for the overall EMEA region.

“The third quarter of 2011 marked three years since the start of the downturn, and despite a relative recovery during the last few quarters, both volume and revenue remained lower than in the third quarter of 2008. “Growth in EMEA has not been enough to offset some real challenges in Western Europe,” he added.