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Server sales slow, but Dell shows growth; HP, IBM tied for No. 1

Dell had its highest revenue market share ever in the second quarter. Oracle's server sales were thumped. IBM saw soft demand for System x, Power Systems and System z as all three were on tap to be refreshed. HP saw flat x86 ProLiant sales, but Integrity demand fell.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Server sales fell 4.8 percent in the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to IDC. HP and IBM remain in a virtual tie for the No. 1 server vendor, but both showed sales declines. Only Dell grew sales in the second quarter compared to a year ago.

IDC said global server sales were $12.6 billion in the second quarter, down 4.8 percent. The research firm said that server revenue has fallen three straight quarters on a year-over-year basis. Units fell 3.6 percent in the second quarter.

The data confirms what HP and Dell have said on their recent earnings calls. In HP's case, it is seeing demand in hyperscale commodity servers, but taking a hit on business critical systems based on Itanium.

Related: Dell, HP and the folly of the consumer PC business | Dell cuts earnings outlook for year, names new enterprise head | HP's Q3: Revenue declines plague units; Outlook lowered

According to IDC, customer demand has been hit by product transitions and the economy. In other words, the sales cycle is getting longer. Europe and Japan demand was soft, but the U.S. and Asia-Pacific showed growth.

As for the vendor standings, Dell had its highest revenue market share ever. Oracle's server sales were thumped. IBM saw soft demand for System x, Power Systems and System z as all three were on tap to be refreshed. HP saw flat x86 ProLiant sales, but Integrity demand fell.

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By category, Linux server revenue was up 1.7 percent to $2.8 billion in the second quarter and now represents 22.1 percent of server revenue. Windows server revenue was up 0.3 percent to $6 billion in the second quarter. Windows servers represent 47.9 percent of revenue.

Unix server revenue continued to fall, down 20.3 percent to $2.3 billion. Unix is 18.4 percent of the server market now. IBM gained 6.1 percent of Unix market share in the second quarter.

Non-x86 servers---RISC, Itanium and CISC---saw revenue fall 19.4 percent in the second quarter to $3.9 billion.

Blade servers continue to show growth with revenue up 6.3 percent in the second quarter.

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