Worldwide Server Revenue has grown substantially in the third quarter of 2017, as well as server shipments growth, according to Gartner.
Globally, server revenue has grown by 16% in the third quarter of this year, from $12.7bn up to $14.7bn. In comparison, the growth of server shipments also increased in the third quarter by a total of 5.1%.
Jeffrey Hewitt, Research VP at Gartner, said: “The third quarter of 2017 produced continued growth on a global level, with varying regional results. A build-out of infrastructure to support cloud and hybrid-cloud implementations was the main driver for growth in the server market for the period.
Sitting at the top of the table for global server growth is HPE, continuing to lead the market from last year based on revenue. Furthermore, despite a decline of 3.2%, the company posted £3.1bn in revenue with a total market share of 21% in Q3.
Dell EMC held its position at number two for another year, with growth of 37.9% in the third quarter, increasing its revenue from $2.2bn to $3bn. Dell EMC now has a market share of 20.8% as opposed to 17.5% at the same point last year.
The tables were turned, however, across server shipments growth as Dell EMC took the top spot with a 17.8% market share, leap-frogging HPE which now sits in second place with 16.4% of the market after dropping 1.9% from last year.
Inspur Electronics was the only vendor to experience positive growth in both revenue and shipments in the third quarter.
In EMEA specifically, third quarter revenue totalled $3.1bn, a 17.1% increase from the same point last year. Additionally, server shipments increased by 2.9% of the year from 481,311 to 495,228.
“On the surface, the EMEA server market has some positive results at last. However, the increased price of certain components due to supply shortages was the main driver of revenue growth as vendors passed increased costs onto users,” said Adrian O’Connell, Research Director at Gartner.
Dell EMC seems to be putting up a fight, bringing significant share growth to both server revenue and shipment growth in comparison to last year. O’Connell explained the potential reasoning for this could be due to the expanded customer base from the EMC acquisition.
– New CEO as Meg Whitman leaves HPE
– Battle for the best supercomputer: HPE, Nvidia & Dell EMC
– Intel targetted for server security
However, despite taking the top spot across global vendor shipments, HPE still held its number one position across all other areas.
Moreover, Gartner somewhat sees improvement on the horizon for HPE to retain its position as it finds HPE is the only vendor to not offer a non-x86 server business. Thus leaving it more affected by fluctuations within that segment.
O’Connell said: “Despite revenues in the third quarter looking relatively positive, the low shipment growth shows the EMEA server market remains constrained. While component shortages will ease, we’re not expecting to see an improvement in the underlying business outlook across the region for some time.”
