Dell EMC gains server market share at HPE's expense

Dell EMC has taken over from HPE in server market share, following strong growth over the first quarter of 2017.

However, HPE remains in control when it comes to revenues, with it holding 24.1% of the market share - down from 25.2% in the first quarter of 2016. Dell EMC is catching up in that table too, with its market share increasing by 4.8% to over the same period to take 19% market share in the latest quarter, according to Gartner.

"The first quarter of the year tends to be relatively strong for Dell, but the acquisition of EMC is proving positive for the server business at the moment," Adrian O'Connell, research director at Gartner, said. "HPE's size means it is subject to the moves of the wider market more than some other vendors. Weakness in the business segment and sourcing changes in the service provider space have reduced its revenue significantly."

Worldwide server sales continue to decline with the growth of cloud computing, Gartner's figures show. Companies are also opting to move to hyperscale infrastructures, buying lower cost servers from ODMs too, meaning total worldwide server revenue declined 4.5% year-on-year, with shipments falling by 4.2%.

However, EMEA was impacted more than the rest of the world, with the region's revenues reducing by 12.2% year-on-year to $2.8 billion in the first quarter of 2017 and shipments totaling 503,000 - a reduction of 8% year-on-year.

IBM and Lenovo most felt the squeeze, with revenues reducing by 34% year-on-year and 16% year-on-year respectively. Lenovo's shipments also shrank by 26%.

"The first quarter of 2017 showed declines on a global level with a slight variation in results by region," said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner. "Asia/Pacific bucked the trend and posted growth while all other regions fell.

"Although purchases in the hyperscale data centre segment have been increasing, the enterprise and SMB segments remain constrained as end users in these segments accommodate their increased application requirements through virtualisation and consider cloud alternatives," he added.