Non-x86 market at lowest ebb "since records began"

But IDC says overall EMEA server market put in a solid performance in Q3

The EMEA server market enjoyed a "solid" third quarter according to IDC, despite non-x86 revenues hitting their lowest point for at least a decade.

According to the market watcher, Dell was the only top-five vendor to grow in the three months to 31 October as server shipments in the region tumbled four per cent annually to 527,000.

Due to currency headwinds, factory revenue fell 10.4 per cent to $2.8bn (£1.7bn) but were flat in euro terms, at €1.7bn.

The x86 segment remained the main growth engine as its share of the overall market rose from 73.5 to 76.4 per cent year on year.

In contrast, non-x86 sales plunged 20.3 per cent to $687.2m, the lowest quarterly totally since IDC's records began in 2000, although this was partly due to the fact that buyers were waiting for major platform refreshes from IBM, HP and Oracle.

Giorgio Nebuloni, research manager, Enterprise Server Group, IDC EMEA, said: "In a constrained business environment, server spending across the board was relatively solid, considering that legacy platforms had a low quarter due to pending product refreshes."

Dell was the only top vendor to enjoy growth as it was not exposed to the non-x86 slowdown, IDC said. It remained in third place behind HP and IBM, which saw revenue fall 17 per cent and 8.5 per cent year on year respectively.

Fourth-placed Fujitsu saw sales fall seven per cent, while fifth-placed Oracle's poor run of form continued as its sales sank 35.4 per cent annually.

By OS, Windows-based servers held 55.2 per cent of the market, with Linux on 21.2 per cent and Unix falling to 15.5 per cent on the back of weaker RISC system sales.