According to Gartner, in 2013, worldwide server shipments grew by 3.2 per cent year over year, while revenue declined by 6.6 per cent over the corresponding quarter in 2012.
The growth in the server market was driven by web-scale IT deployments. However, for the quarter under review, the demand for servers in the enterprise segment remained relatively constrained. Further, customers continue to opt for the mainframe and RISC/Itanium Unix platforms.
Gartner points out that in the fourth quarter of 2013, the regions with the highest growth rates in terms of unit shipments were Asia/Pacific (16.3 per cent), Japan (7.5 per cent) and North America (relatively flat at 0.01 per cent). All regions reported a decline in market revenue except Asia/Pacific, which grew by 0.6 per cent year over year. HP led the worldwide server market in terms of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2013. For the quarter under review, the company reported revenue worth Rs $3.8 billion with a market share of 28.1 per cent. The other two top players in the global server market were HP and Cisco.
