Global server shipments grew 4%, revenues fall 3.8%

Our Bureau Updated - August 28, 2013 at 04:59 PM.

The global server shipments grew 4 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of the calendar year, while revenues fell 3.8 per cent from the same period last year.

IBM had the lead in the global server market based on revenue for the second quarter of 2013. The company had posted worldwide server revenue of nearly $3.2 billion for a total share of 25.6 per cent, according to a study by research and advisory firm Gartner.

“The global server market remains in a relatively weak state overall,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, Research Vice-President at Gartner.

Bright spot

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. Canada was the only other region that grew in both revenue and units (6.3 per cent in revenue and 2.7 per cent in units) while Latin America was close to flat for revenue but increased by 1 per cent in terms of shipments. The US also grew in terms of shipments by 1.9 per cent year-on-year but declined in revenue by 5.1 per cent, the study added.

In server shipments, HP remained the worldwide leader in the second quarter of 2013, in spite of a year-on-year shipment decline of 13.6 per cent for the quarter. HP’s worldwide server shipment share was 23.9 per cent, representing a 4.8 per cent decrease in share from the same quarter in 2012.

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), server shipments surpassed 550,000 units in the second quarter of 2013, a decrease of 5.9 per cent from the same period last year). Server revenue totalled $3.1 billion in the quarter, a decline of 4.6 per cent from the same quarter last year.

“Demand for servers in EMEA remained constrained in the second quarter,” said Adrian O’Connell, research director at Gartner. All three EMEA sub-regions saw server revenue decrease in the second quarter of 2013. In Western Europe, revenue declined 1.6 per cent; in Eastern Europe it fell 17.9 per cent and the Middle East and Africa region fell by 9 per cent.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in

Published on August 28, 2013 11:28