The worldwide server market performed better than expected in the first quarter of 2003, despite the threat of war with Iraq and a continued weak economy, according to market analyst Gartner.
Worldwide server shipments in the first quarter rose to 1.2 million units, up 10.4% compared to the same period a year ago.
Hewlett-Packard defended its lead worldwide, accounting for 29.1% of server shipments. Dell came in second place with a 20.2% market share, followed by IBM with 14.8%.
The top three suppliers accounted for more than half of all servers shipped during the first quarter.
Sun Microsystems was the only top-tier supplier to suffer a decline in worldwide server shipments, down 13.2% in the first quarter over the same period a year ago. The company accounted for 4.9% of shipments.
For the fifth consecutive quarter, server shipments in the US experienced a year-on-year growth rate of more than 10%. The US server market grew 13.2% in the first quarter to 499,609 shipped units from 441,540 units a year ago.
Dell bumped HP from the top spot with a server market share of 27%, partly as a result of its partnerships with Oracle for database products and EMC for storage systems.
The war with Iraq did not have a severe effect on server shipments during the quarter.
