HP grasps server market share lead from IBM

HP has become the bestselling brand when it comes to servers, knocking IBM from the top spot.

Over the last year, the company gained 2.7 percent of market share, leaving it with 31.5 percent overall and $3.4 billion of revenue from its server products, according to the latest report from Gartner.

Conversely IBM managed to lose 2.1 per cent market share and dropped down to second place with 28.4 percent and just over $3 billion of revenue.

The overall server market performed well, with worldwide shipments rising by 23 percent in just the first quarter of 2010 coupled with a six per cent improvement on revenues, but it is still not quite back to the dizzy heights once experienced by the manufacturers.

"We've seen a return to growth on a worldwide level, but the market has not yet returned to the historical quarterly highs that were posted in 2008,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner, in a statement.

The European regions had a somewhat smaller than average growth in shipments of 19.7 percent but managed to secure a 6.6 per cent growth in revenues.

Adrian O’Connell, principal research analyst at Gartner, warned that the market didn’t have as far to climb as other areas in the first place though.

“Although the EMEA server market is returning to growth in shipment and revenue terms, we need to recognise that this is growth from a low base, as the first quarter of 2009 saw a decline of 27.1 percent in shipments and a decline of 34.2 percent in revenue year over year,” he said in a statement.

“Nevertheless, current market levels remain below those seen at the start of 2008, indicating that there is opportunity for stronger penetration in the EMEA server market.”