Server shipments up 4.5 per cent, revenue down 3.2 per cent in Q4 of 2009

BANGALORE: In the fourth quarter of 2009, worldwide server shipments grew 4.5 per cent year-on-year, while revenue fell by 3.2 per cent, according to IT research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.

"The recovery that began in the third quarter of 2009 based on x86 servers extended into the fourth quarter," Research Vice-President of Gartner Jeffrey Hewitt said.

"The fourth quarter of 2008 was quite weak, so the fourth quarter of 2009 did not have to produce huge x86 server numbers to result in an increase. At the same time, other segments like RISC/Itanium Unix and mainframes remained constrained and that exerted downward pressure on overall vendor revenue results," he said.

Gartner said Blade servers pushed ahead with growth of 11.1 per cent in shipments and 22.1 per cent in vendor revenue for the period. RISC/Itanium Unix servers, on the other hand, dropped 30.5 per cent in shipments and fell by 20 per cent in revenue in the fourth quarter.

Regions that grew in shipments were Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and the US, at 19.6, 13.4, and 9.0 per cent, respectively. Shipments of Canada, Eastern Europe, Japan, Latin America and Western Europe witnessed a decline of 9.4, 13.3, 1.7, 6.8, and 4.0 per cent, respectively.

Regions that saw growth in vendor revenue were Asia/Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa at 9.1, 22.1, and 9.4 per cent, respectively. Canada, Eastern Europe, Japan, the US and Western Europe had sales declines of 1.7, 26.2, 6.7, 5.1 and 9.2 per cent, respectively.

IBM continued to lead the worldwide server market based on revenue. In Q4 of 2009, IBM's revenue from server was about $4.1 billion, reflecting a 5.9 per cent YoY decline.