Worldwide server market grows by 2.6 percent YoY in Q4 '09: Gartner

size="3">In
the fourth quarter of 2009, worldwide server shipments grew 4.5
percent YoY, while revenue fell 3.2 percent, according to Gartner.
lang="en-US">“The
recovery that began in the third quarter of 2009 based on x86
servers, extended into the fourth quarter. However, as the fourth
quarter of 2008 was quite weak, the fourth quarter of 2009 did not
have to produce huge x86 server numbers to result in an increase. At
the same time, other segments like RISC, Itanium Unix and mainframes
remained constrained and that exerted downward pressure on overall
vendor revenue results,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, VP-Research,
Gartner.

Hewitt revealed, “Blade
servers pushed ahead with a growth of 11.1 percent in shipments and
22.1 percent in vendor revenue for the period. RISC, Itanium Unix
servers, on the other hand, dropped 30.5 percent in shipments and
fell 20 percent in revenue in the fourth quarter."



Shipments

Regions that grew in
shipments were Asia Pacific, the Middle-East and Africa, and the US,
at 19.6, 13.4, and 9 percent, respectively. And, Canada, Eastern
Europe, Japan, Latin America and Western Europe experienced shipment
declines of 9.4, 13.3, 1.7, 6.8, and 4 percent, respectively.



Vendor
revenue size="3">

While Asia Pacific, Latin
America, and the Middle-East and Africa witnessed 9.1, 22.1, and 9.4
percent, growth in vendor revenue respectively, Canada, Eastern
Europe, Japan, the US and Western Europe had sales declines of 1.7,
26.2, 6.7, 5.1, and 9.2 percent, respectively.

According to the report,
IBM continued to lead the worldwide server market based on revenue.
In the fourth quarter of 2009, while IBM's server revenue was about
$4.1 billion, reflecting a 5.9 percent YoY decline, its marketshare
was 32.7 percent, a one percent decline. IBM's System x grew, while
System p and System z posted declines for the quarter.

Of the top five global
vendors, HP, Dell and Fujitsu grew in revenue for the quarter while
IBM and Sun posted declines. In server shipments, HP remained the
worldwide leader for the fourth quarter of 2009 with a YoY shipment
increase of 3.8 percent. The ProLiant brand showed growth in
shipments while all of its other brands fell in Q4 2009 compared to
Q4 2008. Of the top 10 vendors in server shipments worldwide, all but
NEC and Sun had shipment increases for the period.

The results for the
quarter were centered around demand for x86 servers which increased
in shipments by 6.3 percent, and in revenue by 14.3 percent for Q4
2009. The year 2009 was highly challenging for the worldwide server
space. Worldwide server shipments declined 16.6 percent in 2009
compared to 2008, while 2009 server revenue declined 18.3 percent
from 2008.

Blade servers posted a
revenue increase of 1.3 percent and a shipment decrease of 11.4
percent for the year. HP was the 2009 leader with blade servers at
46.8 percent shipment share. IBM was in the #2 position at 28.2
percent. These two vendors continued to dominate this form factor.

The outlook for 2010
suggests a return to shipment growth in the middle or high single
digits and revenue growth at a slightly lower level. These increases
are being buffered by the use of x86 server virtualization to
consolidate physical machines as they are replaced.

In Europe, the
Middle East and Africa (EMEA), server shipments surpassed 676,000
units in the fourth quarter of 2009, a decline of four percent from
the same period last year. Server revenue totaled $3.9 billion in Q4
2009, a decline of 9.8 percent from the same quarter last year . In
the x86 market, total volumes in EMEA declined 2.6 percent compared
to Q4 2008. lang="en-US">RISC
and Itanium Unix revenues declined 22 percent in the fourth quarter
of 2009. Sun led the segment in the fourth quarter despite a decline
of 28 percent and a loss of two percent revenue share YoY. HP ranked
#2, exhibited a revenue decline of 31 percent YoY, while IBM in the
#3 position saw its revenue decline nine percent.

In 2009, the second half
outpaced the first half in both shipment or revenue terms as the
server market began to recover. HP maintained its #1 position in
shipment terms, improving share by 1.3 percent from 2008. Although
Dell and IBM lost marketshare by less than one percent each, they
maintained their respective #2 and #3 positions. In revenue terms, HP
remained the market leader improving share along with second-placed
IBM by 0.3 percent. Sun, in the #3 position lost one percent share
declining 33 percent in 2009.

In the first quarter of
2010, Gartner foresees a continued improvement in server market
demand, primarily driven by the x86 segment.