Gartner: x86 servers gain as Unix shipments fall

by Agam Shah

November 28, 2007 —

As adoption of x86 servers increased globally, Unix-based server shipments
witnessed a slowdown during the third quarter, a Gartner survey released on
Monday said.

Unit shipments of Unix servers dropped for the top Unix vendors, Sun Microsystems
and IBM, though revenue increased, Gartner said in the survey. Hewlett-Packard
saw both its unit shipments and its revenue for Unix servers rise, the survey
said.

Overall Unix server shipments fell 6.4 percent to 103,267 units. Sun led the
pack, shipping 52,038 units, but that was 12 percent fewer than a year earlier.
IBM shipped 27,904 units to come in second place, representing a 12.9 percent
drop in volume. It was followed by HP, which saw a 29.4 percent increase in
shipments. Apple, in fourth place, shipped 4,098 units, a 33.4 percent increase.
Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens was in fifth place.

Growing at a clip of 9.5 percent, shipments of x86 servers increased globally
to 2.1 million units. HP was the top vendor, with a 30 percent market share,
shipping 631,399 servers, which was a 20 percent year-over-year increase. Dell
shipped 484,650 servers, a 5.4 percent increase. IBM, in third place, saw server
shipments drop 3.5 percent. Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens and NEC followed in the
fourth and fifth spots.

Though Unix server shipments fell, revenue grew 8 percent, with IBM and Sun
both seeing gains, Gartner analyst Lillian Alvarado wrote in an e-mail message.

IBM recorded revenue of $1.29 billion, a 5.7 percent year-over-year increase.
Its midrange System p servers performed better than its high-end System z servers,
which suffered a strong revenue decline from last year. "IBM introduced
new products in its System z line last year, and this was the reason for the
large increase then," Alvarado wrote.

Sun's Unix server revenue was $1.24 billion, a 7.3 percent increase. Sun saw
especially good revenue growth from its high-end servers, according to Alvarado.

Overall, 2.2 million servers shipped worldwide during the third quarter, an
8.7 percent increase. Global server growth was driven by demand for increased
capacity and growth in emerging markets, Errol Rasit, a senior analyst at Gartner,
said in a statement.

HP, which retained its spot as the top server vendor with a 29.3 percent market
share, saw a 20.2 percent increase in shipments, followed by Dell, which saw
a 5.4 percent increase. IBM was in third place, with shipments dropping 3.9
percent, followed by Sun and Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens.

Server revenue worldwide was US$13.4 billion, a 2.6 percent increase year over
year. IBM earned $4 billion, a drop of 8.1 percent from the previous year, and
had market share of 30.1 percent. HP, in second place with $3.8 billion in server
revenue, closed in on the top spot. The company's server revenue grew 13.9 percent,
and it achieved a 28.1 percent market share. Dell was in third place, collecting
$1.6 billion, a 12.6 percent increase. Sun was in fourth place, followed by
Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens.

IDG News Service