IBM tops Linux server makers, but Dell comes on strong

IBM was the leading Linux server vendor in the first quarter of 2003, according to the latest numbers from Gartner. But the vendor is seeing increased competition from fellow Unix rival HP, and particularly from Dell, which took some Linux server market share away from Big Blue last quarter.

According to Gartner’s Dataquest group, which crunches market share numbers, IBM was the leading Linux vendor with $197 million in Linux revenue, or 32.4% of the $609 million market in the first quarter of 2003. HP was second with $153 million, good for 25.2%, and Dell had 19.7% of the market with $120 million in sales.

HP however lost 6% of its share of the market since the previous quarter, while Dell gained 2.3% market share. HP’s market share was flat from the fourth quarter of 2002 to the first quarter of 2003.

Dell came on strong with several Linux announcements in the first quarter. The vendor continued to ally itself closely with Oracle, with new Oracle 9i database clusters running on clusters of Dell Linux boxes. (Oracle’s outspoken CEO Larry Ellison has been an extremely vocal proponent of Linux).

Meanwhile, IBM has been wrapped up with its legal tussle with SCO, which is suing IBM for alleged copyright infringements. (SCO claims IBM used its Unix code, which it licenses from SCO, to augment Linux performance). Still, IBM managed to increase its Linux sales by 55% from the first quarter of 2002, according to Dataquest’s numbers.