x86 extends as UNIX struggles with mkt share

MUMBAI, INDIA: In the second quarter 2013, worldwide server shipments grew four per cent year-on-year, while revenue declined 3.8 per cent from the second quarter of 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. 

"The global server market remains in a relatively weak state overall," said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. "The only real regional bright spot was Asia/Pacific with growth of 10 per cent and 21.7 per cent year on year in terms of revenue and shipments. Canada was the only other region that grew in both revenue and units (6.3 per cent in revenue and 2.7 per cent in units) while Latin America was close to flat for revenue but increased by one per cent in terms of shipments. The U.S. also grew in terms of shipments by 1.9 per cent year-on-year but declined in revenue by 5.1 per cent."

In the second quarter of 2013, x86 server revenue decreased 4.7 per cent in EMEA, while RISC/Itanium UNIX revenue fell 22.6 per cent. Revenue for the "other" CPU segment grew 44.3 per cent. The RISC/Itanium UNIX segment continued to suffer from migrations to alternative platforms as users sought lower cost alternatives and more flexibility. The "other" CPU category, which is primarily driven by mainframes, saw a double-digit increase thanks to platform refreshes. In the second quarter of 2013, the market bifurcation continued with the RISC/Itanium UNIX segment decreasing as a proportion, while x86 servers kept extending their share.

"Weak enterprise demand, combined with consolidation and platform migration, continued to dampen the EMEA server market," said Adrian O'Connell, research director at Gartner.

"In addition to weak demand, established vendors are increasingly challenged by relatively-new vendors such as Cisco, Asia/Pacific-based suppliers such as Lenovo and Huawei, and original design manufacturers selling directly to large end-users.

"x86 servers managed to produce an increase of 4.5 per cent in units for the second quarter, and 2.1 per cent in revenue. RISC/Itanium Unix servers continued to decline at 27.4 per cent in units and 25.3 per cent in vendor revenue compared to the same quarter last year. The ‘other' CPU category, which is primarily mainframes, showed an increase of 6.9 per cent in revenue," Hewitt said.

IBM had the lead in the worldwide server market based on revenue for the second quarter of 2013 and the company posted worldwide server revenue of nearly $3.2 billion for a total share of 25.6 per cent.

The biggest revenue contribution was from its System z. HP's worldwide server shipment share was 23.9 per cent representing a 4.8 per cent decrease in share from the same quarter in 2012. Inspur also made it into the top five server position in the second quarter of 2013 primarily due to a significant high-performance computing (HPC) deal that it won in its native China during the quarter.

In terms of server form factors, x86 blade servers declined by three per cent in shipments and 4.5 per cent in revenue for the quarter. The x86 rack-optimized form factor climbed 3.9 per cent in shipments and 2.4 percent in revenue for the second quarter.