IBM Topped '04 Server Market In Revenue

IBM led the worldwide server market in revenue last year, as the overall market increased by 7.2 percent, a market research firm said Wednesday.

In terms of shipments, however, Hewlett-Packard Co. led, with IBM coming in third behind Dell Inc., Gartner Inc. said.

Overall revenues for the market were $49.5 billion, compared with $46.2 billion in 2003. IBM led the market with a 32.5 percent share, increasing sales by 9.3 percent to $16.1 billion from $14.7 billion a year ago.

HP came in second with a 27.1 percent market share, boosting sales 6.7 percent to $13.4 billion from $12.6 billion a year ago. Sun Microsystems Inc. came in third, as sales declined 4 percent to $5.2 billion from $5.5 billion last year, or a 10.6 percent market share. Dell increased sales by 20 percent to $4.8 billion from $3.99 billion a year ago. Dell had 9.7 percent of the market.

In the fourth quarter, total sales increased 5.7 percent to $14.2 billion from $13.5 billion during the same period a year ago. IBM's revenues increased by 5.8 percent to $5.1 billion, HP 9 percent to $3.9 billion and Dell 18.2 percent to $1.3 billion. Sun saw its revenues decline 5.1 percent to $1.4 billion.Revenue from Unix servers declined 2.8 percent for the year to $16.2 billion from $16.6 billion in 2003. In the fourth quarter of 2004, revenues dipped 1.3 percent to $4.47 billion from $4.53 billion during the same period a year ago.

Sun led the Unix market in revenues in 2004 with $5.1 billion, or 31.8 percent of the market. HP placed second with $4.9 billion, or 30.2 percent of the market, followed by IBM with $4.3 billion, or 26.7 percent. IBM, however, was the only one of the top three vendors to report growth, increasing sales by 7 percent, year to year, while HP dropped 7.8 percent and Sun 5.3 percent.

In the fourth quarter of 2004, IBM increased sales by 13.4 percent from a year ago to $1.3 billion, while HP dropped 9.9 percent and Sun fell 7.1 percent. HP and Sun also had about $1.3 billion in revenues.

Revenue from x86 servers, however, increased 16 percent in 2004 to $23.2 billion from $19.96 billion in 2003. HP led the market in revenue and shipments, followed by Dell and IBM.

HP increased sales by 14.1 percent in 2004 to $7.6 billion, or 32.6 percent of the x86 market. Dell's revenues rose by 19.6 percent to $4.8 billion, and IBM increased by 22.4 percent to $4.2 billion. Dell had 20.5 percent of the market, while IBM had 18 percent.HP increased shipments of x86 servers last year by 19.8 percent of the previous year to 1.8 million units. Dell and IBM, however, recorded higher growth at 27.4 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively. Dell shipped 1.4 million units for the year, and IBM shipped 924,170.

In terms of overall shipments for 2004, the market increased by 20.5 percent to 6.7 million units from 5.6 million units in 2003. HP led the market by shipping 1.9 million servers, an increase of 19 percent over 2003 and a 28.5 percent market share. Dell and IBM, however, had higher growth rates at 27.4 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively. Dell shipped 1.4 million units and IBM 1.1 million, or 21 percent and 15.9 percent of the market, respectively.