Server Market Experiences Some GrowthServer Market Experiences Some Growth

The server market actually grew in terms of units sold last quarter, but with an important caveat: It grew when compared with a very weak third quarter of 2001, which included Sept. 11, 2001.

According to preliminary data from Gartner's Dataquest unit, worldwide third-quarter 2002 server shipments totaled 1.1 million, a modest increase from 1.07 million in the third quarter of 2001.

Dataquest's preliminary estimates indicate that Hewlett-Packard remained the leader in worldwide unit shipments, though its market share declined from 32.5% to 30%. Dell Computer held onto the No. 2 spot and gained market share, going from 16.8% one year ago to 19.2% this year. No. 3 IBM's share declined to 13.9% from 14.5%, while No. 4 Sun Microsystems increased from 5.4% share to 6.2%.

In the United States, things actually looked better, as the market grew 12.2%, to 488,858 units shipped in the third quarter of 2002. In U.S. shipments, Dell seized the market-share lead, with 26.3%, from HP, whose share declined to 25.9%. IBM and Sun are Nos. 3 and 4 in U.S. market share, the same positions they held one year ago.