SME, public sector declines offset UK server growth, says IDC

The UK server market stood still in the third quarter as a rise in shipments to very large corporate customers was offset by declining sales in the SME and public sector.

Market stats from IDC show that 80,000 x86 systems - more than 95% of total server shipments in the UK - were sold during the three months, flat with the same period a year ago while market revenues fell 10%.

The very large corporate market - above 1,000 seats - was up 16% in units but the SME segment fell 10% and local government declined 22%.

"Any project in the public sector over £1m was cut or frozen," said Nathaniel Martinez, programme director for European server research at IDC.

Market leader HP declined 7%, largely due to a large deal it signed with BT in 2009 that was not replicated this year.

Pretender to the crown Dell pushed up its unit sales 9% while IBM grew 23%, boosted by a weak year-ago quarter.

Fujitsu held onto the fourth spot despite declining 34% and Oracle shipments dropped 4%.