Server sales suffer sharp decline

IDC reports gloomy figures for the second quarter.

The global market for computer servers crashed in the quarter ended 30 June, with sales falling 30 per cent to their lowest level in 13 years.

This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of server revenue decline, and the lowest quarterly server revenue since IDC began tracking the server market.

Overall sales of servers around the world fell to $9.8bn (£6bn) in the second quarter of 2009, compared with $14bn (£8.6bn) in the same period last year.

Some companies still have reasons to celebrate, though. IBM increased its share of the server market to 34.5 per cent, up from 32.7 per cent a year ago, even as its server sales fell 26 per cent to $3.4bn (£2.09bn).

HP came in second with 28.5 per cent of the market, roughly the same as a year ago, as its revenue from servers fell 30 per cent to $2.8bn (£1.72bn).

IDC said that it is seeing some signs of recovery, however, and predicted that overall sales will improve in the next quarter.

Customers will soon start replacing older computer equipment with models built around a new generation of processors introduced by Intel and AMD in recent months, IDC explained.

IDC analyst Jim Harrington said that many buyers decided to hold off on purchases earlier this year because they knew that computer makers would be introducing new models over the summer.