For the second consecutive quarter, the Indian server market shipments have declined, according to IDC.

For the fourth quarter of 2011, the x86 server shipments have dropped over 9 per cent as against the third quarter of 2011. Further, revenues have decline by 5.6 per cent when compared to Q4 of 2010 and revenues from non-x86 server shipments declined by 29 per cent over the same period.

Hard disk shortages due to floods in Thailand and rupee appreciation resulted in pricing inelasticity, which in turn resulted in lower server shipments.

IBM tops the table

In the India server market, IBM leads the market with 32.8 per cent revenue followed by HP with 28.1 per cent marketshare for the fourth quarter.

While IBM's revenues declined from a year-on-year perspective, the vendor's revenues grew sequentially and IBM also managed to increase its non-x86 revenue market share significantly. HP's revenues declined both in the x86 and non-x86 segments.

The top 4 players, including IBM, HP, Dell and Oracle cumulatively held 90.6 per cent of the total market in fourth quarter of 2011. “Server shipments continued to plummet in the entry level x86 models in 4Q 2011, thanks to high dollar conversion rates and challenges of hard disk,” said Mr Madhan Dhandayutham, Research Manager, IDC.

The silver lining, however, was an uptick in blade shipments, which IDC says is up this quarter as compared to the previous one. The x86 shipments was the worst affected in the entry models during fourth quarter.

Dell's shipments rose sharply during the quarter as the vendor managed to tie along with HP to achieve the market leadership position. On Monday with Dell launched its 12th generation of servers, with an eye on the Indian enterprise solutions segment.

venkatesh.ganesh@thehindu.co.in