Global server shipments grew 3.6 per cent in third quarter of 2012
29 Nov 2012
The worldwide server shipments grew 3.6 per cent, while revenues fell 2.8 per cent during the third quarter of 2012, compared with the same period a year ago, with revenues of four of the top five global vendors also fell during the quarter.
Dell was the only vendor among the top five to have its revenue increase in the third quarter, while IBM's revenue was down 9.5 per cent. Of the top 5 vendors in server shipments worldwide, Dell and Cisco were the only vendors to experience an increase in shipments, according to study by research and advisory firm Gartner.
IBM had the lead for the quarter in the worldwide server market based on revenue -- the company posted $3.5 billion in server vendor revenue for a total share of 27.6 per cent.
''The third quarter of 2012 again produced shipment growth on a worldwide level, but server revenue was weak due to ongoing economic weakness and market segment differences. Only the North America and Asia-Pacific regions managed any revenue growth, and even those were essentially flat year to year, with North America showing a 1.1 per cent increase and Asia-Pacific a 0.7 per cent increase,'' said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner.
Four of the top five vendors suffered revenue declines. The exception was Dell, which achieved 9.7 per cent growth. The continued improvement of Dell's enterprise capabilities and the expansion of its channel coverage have enabled it to buck current trends, but it remained in third place for overall EMEA server revenue. HP, despite suffering a 16.7 per cent fall, kept the revenue lead in EMEA. It was followed by IBM, which saw a 7.7 per cent decline.
''The picture in terms of shipments was slightly more positive with North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific all growing, but both EMEA and Japan continue to struggle and both saw shipments contract, compared to the same period last year,'' Hewitt added. x86 server shipments grew 4.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, and revenue increased 4 per cent from the third quarter of 2011, he added.
