Hewlett Packard, (HP) is cock-a-hoop this morning with the news that it has finally knocked arch-rival IBM off the top spot in the global server market - something it has been trying to do ever since Carleton Sneed Fiorina (who was later removed from office) forced through the then highly contentious acquisition of computer maker Compaq back in 2002. Martyn Warwick reports.
The figures speak for themselves. In Q! this year HP sold US$3.39 billion worth of server technology, a revenue increase of 15.9 per cent on the same period a year ago. That translates to a 31.5 per cent share of the server market.
Meanwhile, IBM has admitted that it saw a 17 per cent decline in revenues over the first quarter. Big Blue's server revenues fell by 2.1 per cent to $3.05 billion. Thus IBM now has a 28.4 per cent market share.
Coming in third is Dell. Revenue from its server division were up by 35.5 per cent in Q1 to stand at $1.67 billion. Among the also-rans are Fujitsu at Number Four and Oracle at Number Five. However, these two have a mountain to climb if they are to get within hailing distance of the leaders.
The rebound is dramatic given that the server market fell off a cliff when the economic recession bit hard and deep in Q1, 2009. The worst now seems well and truly to be over.
Worldwide server sales in Q1 were up by 6 per cent overall and shipments have risen by 23 per cent.
Commenting on the change of fortunes (and rankings) in the sector, Jeffrey Hewitt, a vp at the research house Gartner, said, "We have seen a return to growth on a worldwide level, but the market has not yet returned to the historical quarterly highs that were posted in 2008, and there were some interesting variations in that growth. Emerging regions that were expected to grow, such as Asia/Pacific, forged ahead, while some mature markets, such as the US, produced better-than-expected results while other countries and regions had a mixed bag of results."
Gartner also reckons that HP's place at the top of the greasy pole could be permanent while other analysts and indiustry observers agree that IBM, having slid down the league table will find it "very hard if not impossible to reclaim the Number One spot."
It'll be milk and Oreo cookies all round on Hanover Street, Palo Alto today.
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