HP, Dell and Lenovo see server market growth, but IBM takes a tumble

Server shipments increased by eight percent worldwide in the second quarter of 2015

Worldwide server sales rose by 7.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015 compared with the same quarter in 2014 to pass 2.6 billion units, according to the latest figures from Gartner.

The figures (shown below) put HP as the market leader, having generated an estimated $3.4bn in revenue based on its 25.2 percent share of the market. This equated to a mere 0.1 percent rise over 2014, despite 7.6 percent revenue growth.

HP's imminent split into two separate companies does not appear to have affected its strength in the server market.

Dell follows with $2.3bn in revenue and a market share of 17.4 percent, the same share as last year, despite 7.1 percent growth in this quarter.

IBM is in third place with $1.8bn in revenue and a market share of 13.7 percent. However, the firm's growth fell by 34.3 percent, which Gartner attributed to the divestiture of its x86 servers to Lenovo.

In contrast, Lenovo saw huge growth of 526.5 percent, raising its market share from 1.2 percent in 2014 to seven percent in the second quarter. This generated $949m in revenue.

Cisco holds fifth place with revenue of $866m and a market share of 6.4 percent, up from 5.7 percent in 2014 thanks to a 19.1 percent hike.

However, 28.2 percent of the server market is controlled by other server vendors, which collectively saw growth in revenues of 15.6 percent to $4bn in the second quarter.

Jeffery Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner, explained that year-on-year growth slowed when compared with the annual growth seen in the first quarter of 2015.

"Currency exchange rate changes have started to show their impact by reducing relative spending power in regions like Western Europe," he said.

"It is likely that, in anticipation of further currency rate shifts, some organisations used their budgets earlier in the year rather than waiting until the third or fourth quarters, when their purchasing power may be further reduced by these relative currency changes."

In terms of server shipments the market grew by eight percent, from 2,492 billion to 2,691 billion in the second quarter.

HP shifted the most units at 583,790 in the second quarter, growth of 2.5 percent over the same quarter a year earlier, although its market share declined by 1.2 percent.

Dell sold 485,745 servers, a decline of 0.4 percent compared with 2014's second quarter, while Lenovo's strong growth was reflected in a 185.7 percent rise in shipments to 222,206 in the quarter.

Interestingly, Huawei is in fourth place in terms of server shipments despite being unable to compete in the market in terms of revenue. The Chinese firm shifted 122,565 units, seeing 38.5 percent growth in the quarter.

Cisco shipped 82,473 servers, representing growth of four percent for the second quarter. Combined, other server vendors led the market in terms of shipments with nearly 1.2 million for the quarter, a small hike of 0.4 percent over the same quarter last year.

Revenue growth from server sales in EMEA fell across the board, with the exception of Dell and Lenovo which saw hikes of 6.9 percent and an impressive 1,941 percent respectively.

The story was much the same for server shipments, and Lenovo was the only vendor to see growth with a 493.2 percent increase.

Adrian O'Connell, research director at Gartner, explained that the slowdown can be attributed to two factors.

"The currency fluctuations, which are reducing revenue, will pass, but the longer-term challenge of constrained enterprise spending is set to continue," he said.

"The EMEA server market continues to be a sizeable and important region for the vendors, but one in which they will have to maximise their efficiencies in order to thrive."