High end supercomputer sales shine; HPC Q2 revenue flat
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The revenue picture for high performance computing gear was mixed for the second quarter, but sales for systems selling for $500,000 and up surged, according to IDC.
IDC reported that high performance computing (HPC) revenue for the second quarter was down 0.9 percent from a year ago to $2.4 billion. IDC, however, is maintaining that HPC revenue will grow 7.1 percent for 2012 to hit $11 billion.
The market for technical servers and high performance is split among high-end and low-end systems. Units in the second quarter were 22,998, down 21 percent from a year ago. But average selling prices surged, according to IDC.
Bottom line: HPC buyers are gravitating to large systems and have been for years.
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This move toward larger systems has helped IBM in the vendor standings. IDC data reveals the following market share for the second quarter.
- IBM had 32.7 percent of the HPC market.
- HP had 29.8 percent.
- Dell had 14.2 percent of revenue.
- "Other" comprises the remainder of the market share pie. IDC noted Cray, Fujitsu and SGI showed revenue gains as did Chinese players such as Inspur and Dawning.
As a result, supercomputers that sell for $500,000 and up saw revenue jump 21.8 percent in the second quarter relative to the first. Workgroup HPC systems, which go for less than $100,000, fell 13.9 percent sequentially and 20.3 percent from a year ago.
High-end supercomputers account for 48.6 percent of the HPC market with divisional systems---$250,000 to $499,000---comprising 13.4 percent of second quarter sales. Departmental HPC systems---$100,000 to $249,000---were 27.5 percent of second quarter revenue with the workgroup category accounting for 10.6 percent.