HP equals IBM as top server computer maker

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.: Hewlett-Packard Co. advanced to tie IBM Corp. during the second quarter as the leading maker of server computers, or large computers used by businesses, research firm IDC said on Friday. In its first quarter after buying Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard came in even with IBM, with both companies taking 27.8 percent market share, IDC said.

Sales of these high-performance business computers worldwide, however, fell in the second quarter -- the sixth quarterly contraction in a row, IDC said. Revenue from server computers, which are used as part of corporate networks and for business applications like e-mail, declined 16 percent to $10.5 billion in the second quarter from $12.6 billion a year earlier.

"While demand in the second quarter remained soft, we expect the worldwide server market to approach near flat year-on-year growth for the remaining two quarters of the year," said Mark Melenovsky, director of Server and Infrastructure Hardware programs at IDC.

However, IDC said HP actually lost share compared with a combined HP and Compaq market share a year earlier while Sun Microsystems Inc. and Dell Computer Corp. all gained share from the previous year.

© Reuters