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Worldwide Server Market Maintains Strong Momentum in Fourth Quarter and Hits $49 Billion in 2004 Revenues, According to IDC.


FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- According to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, factory revenue in the worldwide server market grew 5.1% to $14.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of positive growth. Worldwide server unit shipments growth slowed modestly to 15.7% in 4Q04 when compared with the year-ago period.

For the full year 2004, worldwide server revenue grew 6.2% to $49.0 billion, while worldwide unit shipments grew 19.3% to 6.3 million units. IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries)  led the overall server market in 2004 with 33.3% revenue share, followed by HP with 26.6% share.

The volume server segment (servers priced less than $25,000) was the only market segment that experienced revenue growth in 4Q04, while midrange midrange Epidemiology The halfway point or midpoint in a set of observations; for most data, MR is calculated as the sum of the smallest observation and the largest observation, divided by 2; for age data, one is added to the numerator; a midrange is usually  enterprise servers ($25,000 to $499,999) and high-end enterprise servers ($500,000 or more) showed declining revenue. This reflects both a decline in unit shipments for those server classes and continued price compression Price compression

The limitation of the price appreciation potential for a callable bond in a declining interest rate environment, based on the expectation that the bond will be redeemed at the call price.
, which reduces average sales prices for these servers. This pattern is very different than what was seen in the fourth quarter of 2003, when all three segments grew as server market revenue surged at year end.

Once again, volume servers are leading the market in both revenue and unit shipment growth, demonstrating the dramatic impact that these systems are having on the worldwide server marketplace. "Volume servers are being deployed in rich configurations, and in scale-out cluster configurations, to take on a wider range of enterprise workloads," said Matthew Eastwood, program vice president of IDC's Worldwide Server Group. "This trend towards modularization shows that customers are also increasingly embracing blade computing and both scale-out and scale-up server virtualization (1) Running applications in separate, isolated partitions within a single server. The "virtual machine" method can run different operating systems simultaneously, whereas the "OS virtualization" method runs applications for only one operating system (see virtual machine and OS  technologies as they refresh (1) To continuously charge a device that cannot hold its content. CRTs must be refreshed, because the phosphors hold their glow for only a few milliseconds. Dynamic RAM chips require refreshing to maintain their charged bit patterns. See vertical scan frequency and redraw.  and expand their IT infrastructures."

Overall Server Market Standings

IBM held onto its number 1 spot in the worldwide server systems market with 38.2% market share in factory revenue, growing factory revenue by 6.5% year over year. This growth was driven primarily by strong performances from both its xSeries and pSeries servers. HP maintained the number 2 spot with 25.9% share, growing revenue 5.9% compared to 4Q03. HP's growth stemmed from strong Proliant server performance. Similar to the previous quarter, there were a statistical tie for the third position between Sun and Dell. Sun, with 9.4% revenue share, posted a 3.7% decline in revenue from a year ago, although unit shipments grew 7.9%. Dell grew revenue by 10.8% compared to 4Q03, ending with 9.0% revenue share. Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens, experienced a 6.8% decline in factory revenue holding 4.7% revenue share in 4Q04.

x86 Industry Standard Server Market Dynamics Boost Overall Growth

The x86 server market continued to experience strong growth, with revenue of $6.3 billion worldwide for the fourth quarter of 2004. Factory revenue for x86 servers grew 14.4%, while unit shipments grew 16.8% to 1.6 million servers. HP led the market with 32.6% revenue share due to strong revenue growth of 13.8% year over year. The fierce competition between Dell and IBM for the second position in the x86 market ended in a statistical tie with IBM and Dell each holding roughly 21% revenue share for the fourth quarter. IBM, however, posted the largest year-over-year revenue growth among the top 5 vendors with 26.1% growth.

"Nearly 25% of all x86 servers shipping today include 64-bit support in the form of AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, www.amd.com) A major manufacturer of semiconductor devices including x86-compatible CPUs, embedded processors, flash memories, programmable logic devices and networking chips.  Opteron and Intel EM64T (Extended Memory 64 Technology) The first name of Intel's 64-bit x86 CPUs. In 2006, the name of the technology was changed to "Intel 64." See Intel 64.  processors," said John Humphreys John Humphreys may refer to:
  • John Humphreys (accountant), an accountants firm in Dover, England.
  • Jonathan Humphreys, a Welsh rugby player.
  • John Humphreys (economist), an Australian economist and libertarian.
  • John Humphreys (politician), a Texas politician.
, research manager, Modular Server Solutions at IDC. "This trend will boost the use of x86 servers in high performance computing (HPC (Handheld PC) A palmtop computer that weighs less than one pound and runs specialized versions of popular applications. Microsoft coined the term for its Windows CE operating system, which is an abbreviated version of Windows. See Pocket PC. ) technical workloads and in some enterprise workloads that formerly required the use of 64-bit RISC RISC
 in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing

Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s.
 platforms."

Additionally, the server blade One blade in a blade server. See blade server.  market continued to impact the market. "For 2004 the blade market nearly doubled in size to over $1.1 billion worldwide," said Jessica Yang, research analyst, Modular Server Solutions at IDC. "Driven by the 'system-ness' of the technology, blade server A server architecture that houses multiple server modules ("blades") in a single chassis. It is widely used in datacenters to save space and improve system management. Either self-standing or rack mounted, the chassis provides the power supply, and each blade has its own CPU, memory and  penetration reached nearly 7% of x86 shipments in the US - meeting IDC's expectation of a market that is building momentum with both early adopters and the mainstream customer base."

Renewed Growth in Unix Server A medium to large-scale computer system in a network that runs under Unix. Unix servers are widely used as application servers and database servers and are available from a variety of vendors, including Sun, IBM, HP and others.  Revenue and Unit Shipments

Unix server revenues were $5.2 billion in the quarter, increasing 2.7% year over year against a difficult compare for 4Q03. Additionally, on a sequential basis, Unix servers grew dramatically in 4Q04, adding more than $1 billion in quarterly revenue. This sharp growth reflects continued investment in the worldwide installed base of Unix servers, many of which support mission-critical workloads. Importantly, Unix server unit shipments also grew, reflecting additional footprints across all server-class segments. IBM regained the lead in Unix servers worldwide with 36.3% share in terms of factory revenue. HP took the Number 2 spot with 27.6% market share and Sun had 25.3% market share, based on factory revenue. Additionally, both IBM and Sun experienced year-over-year unit shipment growth in 4Q04.

Linux Server Growth Accelerates, Topping 60% Year-Over-Year

Linux servers generated $1.3 billion in quarterly revenue, representing 9.0% of worldwide server revenue. It was also the second sequential quarter of $1 billion-plus quarterly revenue. Overall, Linux server revenue grew 35.6% year over year, while unit shipments grew 29.1% year over year. HP led the market with 26% revenue share, followed by IBM and Dell with 23.5% and 15.8% share, respectively.

"Linux server revenue continues to break new ground," said Jean S. Bozman, research vice president in IDC's Worldwide Server Group. "This reflects increasing adoption of Linux servers for a broader range of workloads, spanning high performance computing and enterprise workloads, including IT infrastructure and Web infrastructure as well as collaborative, decision support, and business processing workloads."

Windows Server See Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Home Server, Windows 2000 and Windows NT.  Market Shows Strong Growth

The Windows server market continued to show strong growth, with factory revenues increasing by 15.5% year over year and unit shipments gaining 17.9%. Overall, Windows servers See Windows Server 2003, Windows Home Server, Windows 2000 and Windows NT.  accounted for $4.6 billion in 4Q04, representing 32.0% of quarterly server market revenue. IDC notes that Windows server revenues are vying vy·ing  
v.
Present participle of vie.

vying vie
 with Unix server revenues as the largest segments of the worldwide server market when measured by operating system operating system (OS)

Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs.
. "This reflects widespread use of Windows servers for a broad range of computing workloads as well as deployment of richly configured Windows servers for mission-critical workloads and an upgrade cycle from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003," added Bozman.
Top 5 Corporate Family, Worldwide Server Systems Factory Revenue,
Fourth Quarter of 2004

(Revenues are in Millions)

                            Q4 2004  Market  Q4 2003  Market  Revenue
                                                               Growth
           Vendor           Revenue  Share   Revenue  Share  Q404/Q403
----------------------------------------------------------------------

IBM                        $ 5,511   38.2%   $ 5,176   37.7%    6.5%
Hewlett-Packard            $ 3,732   25.9%   $ 3,524   25.7%    5.9%
Sun Microsystems           $ 1,361    9.4%   $ 1,414   10.3%   -3.7%
Dell                       $ 1,299    9.0%   $ 1,173    8.5%   10.8%
Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens    $   680    4.7%   $   730    5.3%   -6.8%
Others                     $ 1,836   12.7%   $ 1,701   12.4%    7.9%

All Vendors                $14,420  100.0%   $13,717  100.0%    5.1%

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, February 2005


Top 5 Corporate Family, Worldwide Server Systems Factory Revenue,
Full Year 2004

(Revenues are in Millions)

                            2004     Market   2003   Market   Revenue
                                                               Growth
           Vendor          Revenue   Share  Revenue  Share   2004/2003
----------------------------------------------------------------------

IBM                        $16,320   33.3%  $14,797   32.1%    10.3%
Hewlett-Packard            $13,043   26.6%  $12,496   27.1%     4.4%
Sun Microsystems           $ 5,160   10.5%  $ 5,369   11.6%    -3.9%
Dell                       $ 4,649    9.5%  $ 4,172    9.0%    11.4%
Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens    $ 2,884    5.9%  $ 2,823    6.1%     2.2%
Others                     $ 6,990   14.3%  $ 6,505   14.1%     7.5%

All Vendors                $49,044    100%  $46,161    100%     6.2%

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, February 2005


IDC's Server Taxonomy taxonomy: see classification.
taxonomy

In biology, the classification of organisms into a hierarchy of groupings, from the general to the particular, that reflect evolutionary and usually morphological relationships: kingdom, phylum, class, order,


IDC's Server Taxonomy maps the eleven price bands within the server market into three price ranges: volume servers, midrange enterprise servers and high-end enterprise servers. The revenue data presented in this release is stated as factory revenue for a server system. IDC presents data in factory revenue to determine market share position. Factory revenue represents those dollars recognized by multi-user system and server vendors for ISS ISS

See Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).
 and upgrade units sold through direct and indirect channels and includes the following embedded Inserted into. See embedded system.  server components: Frame or cabinet and all cables, processors, memory, communications boards, operating system software, other bundled software (1) Applications that are included with new hardware. For example, a new PC often comes with several applications, many of which may be light versions or full versions with no limit on usage. Others may be only 60- or 90-day trial packages. See bundle.  and initial internal and external disk shipments.

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker is a quantitative tool for analyzing the global server market on a quarterly basis. The Tracker includes quarterly shipments (both ISS and upgrades) and revenues (both customer and factory), segmented by vendor, family, model, region, operating system, price band, CPU CPU
 in full central processing unit

Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit.
 type, and architecture. For more information, please contact Hoang Nguyen at 508-935-4718 or hnguyen@idc.com.

About IDC

IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.

IDC is a subsidiary of IDG IDG International Data Group
IDG Integrated Drive Generator
IDG Installation Design Guide
IDG Internet Discussion Group
IDG Inset Dielectric Guide
IDG International Dangerous Goods (mail, shipping) 
, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com

All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Feb 25, 2005
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