IDC reports 14% decline in Q4 factory revenue in worldwide server market
IDC reported that fourth-quarter factory revenue declined 14% in the worldwide server market on a year-over-year basis. All of the top five server vendors saw declines in their quarterly and annual server revenue, the first time since the first quarter of 2002. The research firm said that IBM, which held onto its number 1 spot in the worldwide server systems market with a 36.3% market share in factory revenue, recorded a 15% decline in its revenue to $4.9 billion. Although IBM experienced significant weakness in System x, demand for its power-based systems improved in the quarter. HP, which maintained the number 2 spot with a revenue market share of 29%, reported fourth-quarter factory revenues of $3.91 billion, a 10.1% decline from last year. According to IDC, HP was helped by a relatively strong October during its fiscal year end. Dell posted quarterly factory revenues of $1.42 billion, down 9.9% from $1.58 billion in the prior-year quarter. Dell maintained third place with a factory revenue market share of 10.6%. Sun Microsystems’ fourth-quarter factory revenue was $1.25 billion, a decline of 14.1% from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year. Sun’s factory revenue market share was 9.3% for the quarter.