Server sales surge: IBM share jumps; HP top dog; Oracle's Sun perks up
Server sales continued to surge amid a strong corporate upgrade cycle. Global server market revenue jumped 12.1 percent in the first quarter to $11.9 billion from a year ago, according to IDC data.
Unit shipments came in 1.9 million units in the first quarter, the second highest total ever for the first three months of the year.
All flavors of servers---volume, mid-range and high-end enterprise---saw gains. Demand for x86 servers remained strong and IBM saw gains for its Power systems and System z servers. The quarter was so strong for servers that even Unix servers showed sales gains for the first time in 11 quarters.
As for the standings, HP remained top dog with 31.5 percent market share courtesy of gains for its ProLiant and Integrity servers. Dell held on to the No. 3 spot and Oracle's Sun unit remained No. 4 with 6.5 percent market share. Cisco had 1.6 percent share.
The big takeaways:
- IBM is surging in the high-end market.
- Oracle's Sun unit isn't a doormat anymore and is moving boxes.
- Cisco is limped into the "other" category, but is showing strength in blade servers.