By Michael Calia
Factory revenue in the worldwide server market fell 6.2% in the
second quarter from a year earlier to $11.9 billion, according to
International Data Corp., making the sixth time in the previous
seven quarters that the server market's worldwide revenue declined
year-over-year.
Server unit shipments declined 1.2% to 2 million units, as
demand continued to soften throughout most of the world, according
to IDC.
Volume systems posted a 2.4% drop in revenue. Midrange and
high-end systems saw revenue declines of 22.3% and 9.5%,
respectively. IDC said these markets were hurt by difficult
year-over-year comparisons and transitions in technology refresh
cycles.
"It is clear that the competitive dynamics in the server market
remain fierce as the leading server vendors work to offset weak
demand for generally higher margin Unix and blade servers with
lower margin rack and density optimized servers," said Matt
Eastwood, group vice president and general manager of enterprise
platforms at IDC.
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) held the top
position in the worldwide server market with a 27.9% factory
revenue share for the quarter. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) was second
with 25.9% share. Dell Inc. (DELL) stayed in third with 18.8%. H-P
had held the top position in both the first quarter and a year
earlier, trading places with IBM.
Write to Michael Calia at michael.calia@wsj.com
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