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Server revenue down; HP, IBM tied at #1

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BANGALORE, INDIA: Global server market decreased 4.8 per cent year over year to $12.6 billion in the second quarter of 2012 (2Q12), finds International Data Corporation (IDC) in its Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, factory revenue report.

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This is the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue decline, as server market demand continued to soften following a strong refresh cycle which characterized the market in most of 2010 and 2011.

Server unit shipments decreased 3.6 per cent year-over-year in 2Q12 to 2.0 million units.

This was the first year-over-year decline in server shipments since 3Q09, a period of almost three years.

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On a year-over-year basis, volume systems experienced a 2.5 per cent revenue decline. At the same time, demand for midrange and high-end systems experienced year-over-year revenue declines of 11.2 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively in 2Q12.

All three segments were impacted by difficult year-over-year compares combined with transitions in the technology refresh cycles.

"Worldwide server revenue declined for the third consecutive quarter in 2Q12 as the market continued working its way through a number of technology transitions impacting customer demand for x86, Unix, and mainframe class systems. That said, it is also clear that economic uncertainty is weighing on the market and the sales cycle is lengthening," said Matt Eastwood, group vice president and general manager, Enterprise Platforms at IDC.

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"Regionally, server demand in Western Europe and Japan was particularly soft while server revenue in the US and Asia/Pacific managed to grow modestly. It is important to note that IDC believes that server demand will begin to improve in the second half of 2012 following a number of critical product refreshes which continue to be announced," he added.

Overall Server Market Standings, by Vendor

Top 5 Corporate Family, Worldwide Server Systems Factory Revenue, Second Quarter of 2012 (Revenues are in Millions)

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2Q12 Revenue

2Q12 Market Share

2Q11 Revenue

2Q11 Market Share

2Q12/2Q11 Revenue Growth

1. HP*

$3,726

29.6%

$3,922

29.6%

-5.0%

1. IBM*

$3,680

29.2%

$4,008

30.3%

-8.2%

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3. Dell

$2,020

16.0%

$1,908

14.4%

5.9%

4. Oracle

$752

6.0%

$941

7.1%

-20.1%

5. Fujitsu

$489

3.9%

$845

6.4%

-42.1%

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Others

$1,930

15.3%

$1,605

12.1%

20.2%

All Vendors

$12,597

100%

$13,228

100%

-4.8%

 

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Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, August 2012.

HP and IBM jointly held the number 1 position in the worldwide server market with 29.6 per cent and 29.2 per cent factory revenue share respectively for 2Q12, a statistical tie.

IBM experienced a 8.2 per cent year-over-year decline in factory revenue losing 1.1 points of share in the quarter on soft demand for System x, Power Systems, and System z ahead of a number of major product transitions.

HP's factory revenue declined 5.0 per cent year-over-year in 2Q12 based on flat sales for x86-based ProLiant servers offset by continued declines in HP Integrity server demand. Dell maintained third place with 16.0 per cent factory revenue market share in 2Q12. Dell's factory revenue increased 5.9 per cent compared to 2Q11 helping Dell to its highest-ever server market share in any quarter.

Oracle maintained the number 4 position with 6.0 per cent factory revenue share; Oracle's 2Q12 factory revenue decreased 20.1 per cent compared to 2Q11.

Fujitsu ended the quarter in the number 5 market position with 3.9 per cent factory revenue share. Facing a tough yearly compare from the K-computer HPC deal in 2Q11, Fujitsu server revenue declined 42.1 per cent year-over-year.

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Top Server Market Findings

Linux server demand continued to be positively impacted by high performance computing (HPC) and cloud infrastructure deployments, as hardware revenue increased at 1.7 per cent year-over-year to $2.8 billion in 2Q12.

Linux servers now represent 22.1 per cent of all server revenue, up 1.4 points when compared with the second quarter of 2011.

Microsoft Windows server demand was up 0.3 per cent year-over-year in 2Q12 with quarterly server hardware revenue totaling $6.0 billion representing 47.9 per cent of overall quarterly factory revenue, up 2.4 points over the prior year's quarter.

Unix servers experienced a revenue decline of 20.3 per cent year over year to $2.3 billion representing 18.4 per cent of quarterly server revenue for the quarter.

IBM's Unix server revenue declined 10.0 per cent year over year; however IBM still managed to gain 6.1 points of Unix server market share when compared with the second quarter of 2011.

The market for non-x86 servers, including servers based on RISC, EPIC (Itanium-based), and CISC processors, declined 19.4 per cent year-over-year to $3.9 billion in 2Q12.

This is the fourth consecutive quarter in which non-x86 servers have exhibited a revenue decline. Non-x86 based systems now comprise 30.6 per cent of the server market.

"The Unix server market is in between generation refresh cycles, and continues to be hampered by workload consolidation and migration to other platforms," said Kuba Stolarski, research manager, Enterprise Servers at IDC. "IDC expects the Unix market to stabilize over the next few years and remain a smaller, specialized segment of the overall server market, catering primarily to customers who are looking for high levels of availability and stability in a scale-up architecture."

x86 Industry Standard Server Market Dynamics

Demand for x86 servers continued to improve in 2Q12, with revenues growing 3.5 per cent in the quarter to $8.7 billion worldwide as unit shipments were down 0.6 per cent to 1.9 million servers. This was the first decline in x86 server shipments since 3Q09.

HP led the market with 36.4 per cent revenue share based on a 0.2 per cent revenue decline when compared to 2Q11. Dell retained second place, securing 23.1 per cent of revenue share while gaining 0.5 points of share when compared with the second quarter of 2011.

IBM rounded out the top three positions, holding 14.3 per cent revenue share following a 7.4 per cent year-over-year revenue decline. Overall, this was the twelfth time in the previous thirteen quarters with a year-over-year increase in average selling prices for x86 servers as both the mix of systems and average system configurations continue to move up-market, driving generally higher product margin for x86 ecosystem players.

Bladed Server Market Results

The blade market continued its solid growth in the quarter with factory revenue increasing 6.3 per cent year over year and shipment growth increasing by 4.1 per cent compared to 2Q11.

Overall, bladed servers, including x86, EPIC, and RISC blades, accounted for $2.1 billion in revenues, representing 16.9 per cent of quarterly server market revenue, a record high. More than 90 per cent of all blade revenue is driven by x86-based blades, which now represent 22.1 per cent of all x86 server revenue.

HP maintained the number 1 spot in the server blade market in 2Q12 with 51.5 per cent revenue share, while IBM finished with 15.9 per cent revenue share. Cisco and Dell rounded out the top 4 with 13.8 per cent and 8.1 per cent factory revenue share, respectively.

"IDC is observing a increasing trend towards form factor specialization in the market, as both blade and density optimized servers continue to outperform the general market," said Jed Scaramella, research manager, Enterprise Servers at IDC. "Together, blade and density optimized servers grew 15 per cent in annual revenue and now represent 22 per cent of the market. These modular form factors are expected to continue to gain adoption, with blades targeting virtualized environments in enterprises and density optimized servers targeting large-scale homogeneous environments in data centres."

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