ServersServer Sales on the Rise Page 2

Server Sales on the Rise Page 2

ServerWatch content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.




Continued From Page 1

Server Sales Broken Down by Operating Systems

Gartner also broke down vendor results for Intel-, Unix-, and Linux-based
servers. While still billions behind mainstay Unix and Intel
machines in sales, Linux-based system sales experienced volcanic growth, as
many analysts had predicted.

In the past few years, HP, IBM, and Dell — after investing billions in marketing
and research and development to bring products to market — have proven that Linux can be
viable in enterprise computing space after investing billions in marketing
and research and development to bring products to market. Customers have begun
to believe the fanfare and are buying systems based on the open-source
operating system at a prodigious clip.

According to Gartner, IBM and HP tied for a 60 percent growth in Linux
system sales. However, HP enjoyed the most success in this sector with
system revenue growing from $581 million to $927 million from 2002 to 2003.
IBM grew from $345 million to $552 million year-over-year.

Dell, on the strength of its Microsoft Windows-based systems, led the way with 22 percent
sales growth for Intel-based systems. IBM and HP followed with 21 percent
and 17 percent growth, respectively. Overall, HP continued to dominate this segment
with a nearly 34 percent share.

IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker reported similar findings. It
showed a 63.1 percent year-over-year growth for Linux servers, generating
$960 million for the industry in the last three months of the year.

The results show “that Linux servers are taking on important roles in IT
customers’ computing infrastructure,” Jean S. Bozman, an IDC research vice
president, said in a statement. “What began with edge and Web-centric
workloads is branching out to include [high-performance computing] and
commercial workloads.”

The IDC report also shows significant gains in the x86 server market,
with revenue up 15 percent and unit shipments up 23 percent. Windows OS
servers continue to grow as well. IDC said Windows servers accounted for
31.7 percent of quarterly server market revenue or $3.9 billion in the
fourth quarter.

Unix servers sales, which many analysts believe are being cannibalized by
the explosive Linux system growth, posted the least success in both surveys.
Although Unix holds fast as the most prevalent and highest revenue
generating server technology. IDC said the lumbering OS giant posted its
first year-over-year growth in 11 quarters with revenue growth of 0.8
percent to $5.1 billion for the quarter. Gartner reported Sun and HP saw
sales for these machines dip 16 and 4 percent, respectively. IBM, however,
bucked the trend saw a 13 percent revenue increase for its pSeries servers.

Two stories that originally ran on internetnews.com. were used in this report.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Latest Posts

Related Stories