Global server market revenues increased 12.1% year over year to $11.9bn in the first quarter of 2011 (1Q11) and server unit shipments increased 2.5% year over year to 1.9 million units, according to IDC.
The research firm said that improved market conditions were seen across all three server classes – volume, midrange enterprise, and high-end enterprise.
Volume systems registered an 8.7% year-over-year revenue increase, the sixth consecutive quarter of positive growth for the segment while midrange enterprise demand improved for the third time in the past four quarters, with 28.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
In high-end enterprise segment, the improving market conditions led to the increase in quarterly revenue by 14.2% when compared to 1Q10.
IDC said that this is the first time in eight quarters that all three segments of the server market have experienced a year-over-year revenue increase in the same quarter.
HP held the top position in the worldwide server market with 31.5% factory revenue share for 1Q11. HP’s 10.8% revenue growth was led by improved demand for both x86-based ProLiant servers and Itanium-based Integrity servers.
IBM stood second with 29.2% share for the quarter as factory revenue increased 22.1% compared to 1Q10 and gained 2.4 points of share from a year ago. Dell maintained third place with 15.6% factory revenue market share in 1Q11 factory revenue increased 9.7% compared to 1Q10 driven in part by strong demand from SMB customers.
Oracle and Fujitsu stood at fourth and fifth place, respectively with factory revenue increased by 13.6% and 4.8% compared to 1Q10.
IDC enterprise platforms group vice-president Matt Eastwood said that though the public sector weakened, worldwide demand for servers across hosters, SMBs, and enterprise customers remained strong.
"This was the fourth consecutive quarter with double-digit year-over-year revenue growth as the market recovery extended from x86 servers to midrange Unix to high-end mainframe class systems for the first time in nearly three years," Eastwood said.
