Global server shipments up 4%, revenue dips 3.8% in Q2: Gartner

MUMBAI: The global server market continues to remain weak with revenues declining 3.8 per cent in the April-June quarter this year compared to the year-ago period, research firm Gartner said today.


However, the worldwide shipment of servers grew 4 per cent year-on-year in Q2 2013, Gartner said in a statement.

"The global server market remains in a relatively weak state overall. The only real regional bright spot was Asia-Pacific with growth of 10 per cent and 21.7 per cent year-on-year in terms of revenue and shipments, respectively," Gartner research vice president Jeffrey Hewitt said.

Canada was the only other region that grew in both revenue (6.3 per cent) and units (2.7 per cent).

Latin America was close to flat for revenue and saw one per cent growth in terms of shipments. The US market grew 1.9 per cent year-on-year in terms of shipments but declined in revenue by 5.1 per cent.

IBM led the worldwide server market in the reported period with nearly USD 3.2 billion in revenues and a total share of 25.6 per cent. The biggest revenue contribution was from its System z.

HP was second in the tally with revenues at USD 3.08 billion and a 25 per cent market share, while third-ranked Dell had USD 2.19 billion in revenues and a market share of 17.7 per cent in the said quarter.

In terms of server shipments, HP remained the worldwide leader in spite of a y-o-y decline of 13.6 per cent for the quarter. Its market share stood at 23.9 per cent.

This was followed by Dell (551,000 units and 22.4 per cent market share) and IBM (209,833 units and 8.5 per cent share).

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), server shipments decreased 5.9 per cent, while revenue declined 4.6 per cent to USD 3.1 billion in the reported quarter.

Demand for servers in EMEA remained constrained in the second quarter, Gartner Research Director Adrian O'Connell said.

"This was the seventh consecutive quarter for shipment decline and the eighth consecutive quarter for revenue decline, showing an even more sustained period of weakness than the one we saw during the economic downturn that began in 2008," O'Connell added.