Server sales up 5.7% in Q4 2004

Sales of computer servers were solid Q4 2004, rising 5.7% and matching expectations, according to Gartner. For all of 2004, server sales advanced 7.2%, up from 4.9% in 2003. 2005 sales should increase another 4-6%. In Q4 2004, IBM remained the top seller of computer servers, which include mainframes, Unix servers and machines running x86 chips. The company also captured 29.9% of the market, up from 26% in Q4 2003. H-P had 29.9% of the Unix server market in the period, down from 32.7% a year ago.