Linux is the success story in server market

By Alun Williams

Posted on 1 Sep 2003 at 16:44

IDC has published its state-of-the-nation research on the worldwide server market, for the second quarter of 2003. And it is Linux that stands out as the success story of the last three months.

IDC reports that Linux server platforms generated almost a 40 per cent increase in revenues from the same period a year ago, up to $650mn. In terms of units shipped, too, Linux servers grew 42 per cent in the three months under consideration. This is faster growth than any other server-market segment.

The Windows server market also grew - nearly 11.5 per cent year-on-year in terms of revenue, and 21.7 per cent in terms of unit shipments. The boxes accounted for $3.1bn of the total sever systems revenue.

The worldwide Unix server market saw a decline, however. Its revenue of $4.3 billion representing a decline of 5.2 per cent in 2Q03, but this is less than the 12.7 per cent decline it showed for the previous three months - the first quarter of 2003.

In terms of the big players and their rankings, IBM has regained the top-spot, ahead of the deposed HP (which rose to the top after its merger with Compaq), followed by Sun, Dell and then Fujitsu Siemens.

These rankings are based on market share, with IBM leading the way with 30.4 per cent market share (which is a 10.12 per cent increase in revenue to $3,228mn). HP is next, with a market share of 27.7 per cent (which is a 0.36 per cent increase to $2,946mn of revenue), followed by Sun with a market share of 13.5 per cent (down 18.69 per cent to $1,434mn). Dell is next in the table with revenues of $980mn representing an increase of 9.94 per cent and a market share of 9.2 per cent.

Total revenues for the market were $10,616mn, representing a slight growth of 0.17 per cent. This was despite a 17.5 per cent increase in server shipments (1.2 million units) indicating a falling average sales price for servers worldwide.

'The fact that this nine-quarter decline in worldwide server revenues has finally come to a halt could signal that IT managers are once again investing in IT infrastructure build-out on a worldwide basis,' said Jean S. Bozman, research VP of Global Enterprise Server Solutions at IDC. 'Although it's too soon to declare a rebound in the server market.'