Worldwide computer server market shrank in Q1

SAN FRANCISCO: The global market for powerful server computers shrank 15 per

cent in the first quarter, and International Business Machines Corp. showed the

strongest share gain, research from Gartner Inc showed on Tuesday.

Hewlett-Packard Co. showed a 0.5 percentage point share gain in the $10.5

billion market from a year earlier, matching exactly acquisition Compaq Computer

Corp's share loss, the data obtained by Reuters showed.

HP and Compaq, which merged this month, together accounted for 25.7 per cent

of the market, compared to IBM's 27.8 per cent and Sun Microsystems Inc., 0.6

percentage point rise to 17.4 per cent of the market.

No. 2 personal computer maker Dell Computer Corp., which is trying to muscle

its way into the server market relying on machines running Microsoft Corp.

Windows and Linux operating systems, was unchanged at 6.9 per cent of the

market.

The market for the most popular high-end operating system, Unix, contracted

15.8 per cent to $4.5 billion and leader Sun Micro solidified its position, its

share rising 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier to 41.0 per cent of the

market, more than twice IBM's 18.5 per cent.

Again, HP's gain offset Compaq's loss, and the two together had 28 per cent

of the market. Sales of servers running Linux, the upstart operating system

developed by engineers worldwide, jumped 54.7 per cent from a year earlier to

just under $400 million, with IBM leading the pack.

The market for servers running on Intel Corp. microchips, traditionally

lower-end machines running the Windows operating system but now also popular for

Linux, fell 14.3 per cent to $3.9 billion, With Compaq leading at 25.2 per cent

of the market