HP soars to bash Big Blue in EMEA server market

IDC data shows increase in revenues across western Europe as partners salute 'proactive' HP

HP has continued to dominate the EMEA server market with 8.2 per cent growth in revenue from last year's second quarter according to IDC.

In the second quarter of 2014, the vendor held a 35.7 per cent share of the market, with IBM coming in second with 22.2 per cent, followed by Dell with a 15.1 per cent share. In the last 12 months HP has tightened its market stranglehold, growing its lead from seven to 13.5 points. In the second quarter Big Blue lost ground as it 15.5 per cent annual sales decline.

According to Mark Adams, managing director of Galtec, HP's success has been down to a "proactive and effective" internal management team.

"In reflection a few years ago there was an arrogance about them [HP], but they have realised that to win the market, they need to be very proactive," he said.

The data from IDC showed that the EMEA server market experienced strong growth in revenues and shipments from the same quarter in 2013, with revenues increasing by 3.6 per cent to $3.2bn (£1.9bn), and shipments growing by 2.5 per cent to a total of 550,000 units.

The figures showed that western Europe enjoyed a strong set of results, with a six per cent increase in revenues for the first quarter of 2014, with sales of $2.4bn in Q2.

Giorgio Nebuloni, research manager at Enterprise Server Group, IDC EMEA, said that the results were positive for western Europe, with 13 out of 16 countries showing spending growth in euro terms in the second quarter of 2014.

But he warned that, "IDC remains cautious for the second half of 2014 in light of recent macroeconomic changes that could dampen growth".

Revenues in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMA) continued to fall in the second quarter of 2014, with a year on year decline of 3.7 per cent to $719.8 million.