System iNetwork

June 8, 2009

Gartner Echoes IDC's Numbers on Server Sales Slide

While Gartner and IDC never quite come up with the exact same numbers describing the worldwide server revenue and shipments for each quarter, they're usually pretty darn close. Gartner's latest findings echo IDC's: Gartner says worldwide server revenue declined 24 percent in the first quarter of 2009 while shipments dropped 24.2 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2008. These were the most significant declines the server industry has experienced on a year-on-year basis, Gartner says.

"The significant decline that occurred in the fourth quarter of last year has extended into the beginning of this year," notes Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. "While this was not unexpected, the severity of the decline was greater than predicted on a worldwide level."

He adds, "The ongoing weakness of the global economy affected all server segments. x86-based servers fell 23.9 percent in units and 27.1 percent in revenues. UNIX servers also were impacted in quarterly results with drops of 31.3 percent in units and 20.4 percent in vendor revenues."

Everybody Takes a Hit

Of the top five global vendors, IBM, HP, Dell, Sun and Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens all had double-digit revenue declines for the first quarter of 2009, Gartner says. IBM continued to lead the worldwide server market based on revenue ($3 billion in server revenue with market share of 30.7 percent, up 1.4 percent year-on-year). While IBM retained the No. 1 position, it sustained a 20.4 percent revenue decline, with all of its server brands posting year-on-year decreases, Gartner notes.

In terms of shipments, HP led the pack despite a 22.3 percent decline, and all of the top vendors posted double-digit declines, as well.

The least impacted server segment was x86 blade severs, Gartner says, which fell 20.6 percent in units and 19.5 percent in vendor revenue for the first quarter. All blade server shipments declined 19.1 percent, and revenue decreased 13.8 percent.

Overall, Gartner expects similar lackluster server sales and shipments in the second quarter of 2009, and the research firm doesn't expect any significant turnarounds until 2010.

Posted by cmaxcer at June 8, 2009 10:34 AM