Server sales grow

The server market grew 2% by revenue in the third quarter of 2003 from the same quarter in 2002, according to a report recently released by research firm IDC. Server revenue includes the cost of hardware, operating systems and direct-attached storage.

IDC says that while it is still too early to call a server rebound, signs point to continued growth. IDC is projecting 2% to 3% growth year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2003 and growth of 5% in 2004 from 2003.

Server sales reached $10.8 billion, primarily from growth in servers costing less than $25,000. It is the second quarter of growth this year.

IBM led the pack in revenue. HP, Sun and Dell followed. Sun’s revenue declined to $1.2 billion, while Dell grew the fastest – to $1 billion, an increase of 11.6%.

IDC says that IBM’s sales grew to $3.4 billion, while HP had sales of $3 billion. IBM’s share represents 31.1% of the market; HP claims 27.7%.

Linux sales rose in the third quarter of 2003 to $743 million, representing a 49.8% increase over the same period last year. While Unix market share has been declining in the past few quarters, its decline slowed to 3.8%, to $4.1 billion. HP led the Unix market with 33.8% market share. Sun followed with 28.4%, and IBM trailed with a close 25.6%. HP shipped the most servers with Linux installed, followed by IBM and Dell. Windows servers also grew to $3.4 billion.

IBM led the market in blade servers. The market for blades exploded, up 763% to $164 million. HP, which formerly led in blade servers, fell behind IBM. IBM shipped $57 million, and HP, $54 million.