Gartner Says Worldwide Server Revenue Grew 8.2 Percent in Fourth Quarter of 2015 

STAMFORD, Conn., March 9 -- In the fourth quarter of 2015, worldwide server shipments increased 8.2 per cent year over year, while revenue grew 9.2 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2015, worldwide server shipments grew 9.9 per cent, and server revenue increased 10.1 per cent.

"The real growth driver for the quarter in terms of absolute value was the other vendors category," said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. "This collection of unspecified vendors that includes original design manufacturers (ODMs), like Quanta and Wistron, contributed over $750 million in revenue and over 170,000 server unit shipments for the period. This demonstrates that the growth of hyperscale data centres, like those of Facebook, Google and Microsoft, continues to be the leading contributor to physical server increases globally."

In the fourth quarter of 2015, the regions with the highest growth rates in terms of unit shipments were Asia/Pacific (20.1 per cent), North America (8.5 per cent) and Western Europe (4.3 per cent). All regions except Asia/Pacific, North America and Western Europe declined in vendor revenue, with those particular geographies exhibiting growth of 19.7 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 8.0 per cent, respectively.

Even as its revenue declined 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) led the worldwide server market based on revenue with 25.2 per cent of the market (see Table 1). Of the top five global vendors, all but HPE showed growth for the quarter. The primary decline in HPE's server shipments can be attributed to a global weakness in Windows-based x86 servers, while the decline in revenue was driven mostly by a drop in RISC/Itanium Unix server sales for the period.

Table 1

Worldwide: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 4Q15 (US Dollars)

Source: Gartner (March 2016) 

In server shipments, HPE remained the worldwide leader for the fourth quarter of 2015, even as its shipments declined 2.6 per cent (see Table 2). Huawei and Inspur Electronics experienced the strongest growth in the fourth quarter of 2015, with shipment growth of 27 per cent and 53.3 per cent, respectively.

Table 2

Worldwide: Server Vendor Shipments Estimates, 4Q15 (Units)

Source: Gartner (March 2016)

Worldwide x86 server demand increased in shipments by 9.3 per cent and revenue by 10.4 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2015.

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), server shipments exceeded 616 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, an increase of 1.3 per cent year over year (see Table 4). Server revenue totalled $3.8 billion, an increase of 5.7 per cent year over year (see Table 3).

"The server market in EMEA achieved both shipment and revenue increases in 2015 and this positive performance was primarily driven by growth in Western Europe," said Adrian O'Connell, research director at Gartner. "Revenue benefited from the appreciation of the US dollar. Helped by the usual replacement cycle, many infrastructure deployments continued to occur despite dollar-related price increases."

HPE — in its first quarter as a new company — lost revenue in the fourth quarter of 2015 but remained in the No. 1 position. "For HPE to maintain its lead, it must improve its execution," said Mr. O'Connell. Dell and IBM both increased their revenue in the fourth quarter of 2015. Dell's proposed organisational changes did not impact its results and the fourth quarter typically favours IBM, which achieved the highest revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2015.

In shipment terms, HPE slightly grew market share. Dell performed better and gained ground over HPE. Cisco, ranked in fifth, saw the best volume increase of the top five vendors, as it continued to steadily expand its server product portfolio.

"Although the fourth quarter of 2015 achieved growth, the race will be on to drive results throughout 2016," said Mr. O'Connell. "With HPE, Dell, IBM and Lenovo all going through organisational changes, 2016 will decide which companies have made the right choices to drive their server businesses forward." 

Table 3

EMEA: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 4Q15 (US Dollars)

Source: Gartner (March 2016)

Table 4

EMEA: Server Vendor Shipments Estimates, 4Q15 (Units)

Source: Gartner (March 2016)

Full Year 2015 Server Market Results

2015 produced overall increases of 9.9 per cent in shipments and 10.1 per cent in revenue. x86 servers continued to be the predominant platform used for large-scale data centre build-outs across the globe, and the growth of integrated systems, while still relatively small as an overall percentage of the hardware infrastructure market, also provided some growth contribution to the x86 server space for the year. The outlook for 2016 suggests that modest growth will continue in the server space on the whole with some constraint being felt from current economic and currency exchange issues in some regions.

Additional information is available to clients who have access to Gartner's Servers Quarterly Statistics. This database provides worldwide market size and share data by vendor revenue and unit shipments. Segments include: region, vendor, vendor brand, sub brand, CPU type, CPU group, max CPU, platform, price band, operating system and distribution channel.

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. The company delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the valuable partner to clients in approximately 10,000 distinct enterprises worldwide. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, and has 7,600 associates, including more than 1,600 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 90 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

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Source: Gartner