.2013 – In the second quarter 2013, worldwide server shipments grew 4 per cent year-on-year, while revenue declined 3.8 per cent from the second quarter of 2012, according to Gartner, Inc.
“The global server market remains in a relatively weak state overall,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. “The only real regional bright spot was Asia/Pacific with growth of 10 per cent and 21.7 per cent year-on-year in terms of revenue and shipments. Canada was the only other region that grew in both revenue and units (6.3 per cent in revenue and 2.7 per cent in units), while Latin America was close to flat for revenue but increased by 1 per cent in terms of shipments. The US also grew in terms of shipments by 1.9 per cent year-on-year but declined in revenue by 5.1 per cent.”
“x86 servers managed to produce an increase of 4.5 per cent in units for the second quarter, and 2.1 per cent in revenue. RISC/Itanium Unix servers continued to decline 27.4 per cent in units and 25.3 per cent in vendor revenue compared to the same quarter last year. The -other- CPU category, which is primarily mainframes, showed an increase of 6.9 per cent in revenue,” Mr Hewitt said.
IBM had the lead in the worldwide server market based on revenue for the second quarter of 2013 (see Table 1) — the company posted worldwide server revenue of nearly $3.2 billion for a total share of 25.6 per cent. The biggest revenue contribution was from its System Z.
In server shipments, HP remained the worldwide leader in the second quarter of 2013 (see Table 2) in spite of a year-on-year shipment decline of 13.6 per cent for the quarter. HP-s worldwide server shipment share was 23.9 per cent representing a 4.8 per cent decrease in share from the same quarter in 2012.
Inspur also made it into the top five server position in the second quarter of 2013 primarily due to a significant high-performance computing (HPC) deal that it won in its native China during the quarter.
In terms of server form factors, x86 blade servers declined by 3 per cent in shipments and 4.5 per cent in revenue for the quarter. The x86 rack-optimised form factor climbed 3.9 per cent in shipments and 2.4 per cent in revenue for the second quarter.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), server shipments surpassed 550,000 units in the second quarter of 2013, a decrease of 5.9 per cent from the same period last year (see Table 4). Server revenue totalled $3.1 billion in the quarter, a decline of 4.6 per cent from the same quarter last year (see Table 3).
“Demand for servers in EMEA remained constrained in the second quarter,” said Adrian O-Connell, research director at Gartner. All three EMEA sub-regions saw server revenue decrease in the second quarter of 2013. In Western Europe, revenue declined 1.6 per cent; in Eastern Europe it fell 17.9 per cent and the Middle East and Africa region decreased 9 per cent.
“This was the seventh consecutive quarter for shipment decline and the eighth consecutive quarter for revenue decline, showing an even more sustained period of weakness than the one we saw during the economic downturn that began in 2008,” said Mr O-Connell.
In terms of vendor performances, Dell and Fujitsu remained the only two vendors from the top five to show revenue growth. The EMEA market lacks the hyperscale segment growth that other regions benefit from. This means that vendors in the region are more exposed to the global weakness in enterprise sales.
Mobile PC shipments declined 24.5 per cent, while desktop PC volumes decreased 10.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2013. Desktops were slightly supported by sales of “all in one” models, which grew 29 per cent in volume year-on-year. Consumer and professional PC demand declined 24.3 per cent and 13.6 per cent, respectively.
“Most PC vendors have shifted their investment from consumer PCs to tablets/hybrid form factors,” said Ms Escherich. “The challenge for them is how to protect their current PC market position while competing in a very competitive and fast-moving alternative mobile device segment. Without a solid position in the professional PC market, it will be challenging for PC vendors to defend their position and allocate investment to non-PC devices and other mobile device businesses.”
Despite flat year-on-year PC volumes, Lenovo remained in the No. 1 position in the German PC market, increasing its lead with 17.2 per cent market share. Lenovo showed double-digit growth in the professional PC segment with a 12 per cent increase in the second quarter of 2013. HP remained in the No. 2 spot and maintained the same market share year-on-year. HP maintained its lead in the professional and desktop PC segments, but the gap with Lenovo is widening rapidly. Both Acer and Asus lost market share year-on year, and saw respective declines of 45 per cent and 18 per cent as their portfolios shifted away from netbooks. Dell fared slightly better thanks to its reliance on the professional PC market, where it increased PC volumes by 11 per cent in the second quarter of 2013.
“PC demand from businesses remained weak during the second quarter of 2013, but this fits with the PC seasonality trend,” said Ms Escherich. Gartner expects slight improvement in the second half of 2013 as many businesses will need to replace or upgrade their Windows XP PCs with newer devices and get them supported by Microsoft operating system. However, businesses are not likely to move to Windows 8 yet, catching up with the Windows roadmap by moving to Windows 7 instead.”
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world-s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a valuable partner in more than 13,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, and has 5,500 associates, including 1,402 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.
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