IBM lays claim to extension of server reign

IBM said Tuesday that new market research shows that it remains top dog in server computers.

Big Blue said statistics from researcher Gartner show that it was the No. 1 worldwide server vendor in the second quarter, with revenue representing 30.7 percent of the global market. Hewlett-Packard said it was second in total server revenue but first in total server units shipped and the leader in "high growth" segments, such as servers running the Linux operating system.

Gartner declined to provide the statistics behind the companies' claims. The researcher plans to release data for the second quarter on Wednesday.

For the first quarter of the year, Gartner figures for the worldwide server market showed that IBM extended its lead over Hewlett-Packard, while third-place Sun Microsystems narrowly clung to its lead over Dell. Dell's server sales grew 24.8 percent, while Sun's declined 12.5 percent. HP grew in absolute terms in the first quarter but didn't keep up with the overall server market, which increased 9.3 percent to $11.81 billion.

IBM said Tuesday that similar trends took place in the second quarter. "Overall, IBM and Dell posted strong gains, as HP and Sun continued to sputter," IBM said in a statement. "The global marketplace squeeze on HP and Sun by IBM and Dell continues unabated."

Sun Microsystems, HP and Dell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But HP said in a statement that it was the top-ranked Linux server vendor in terms of units and revenue, taking over the No. 1 spot from IBM in revenue. HP said it showed 42.1 percent growth in Linux server units year over year and 52.2 percent year-over-year growth in revenue.

HP also said it was the No. 1 Windows server vendor during the second quarter, in terms of units shipped and revenue.