IDC came out with their Q1 2013 worldwide server market revenue report on May 29, 2013 which shows blade server revenues decreased 2.9% year over year to $1.9 billion while accounting for 17.7% of all server revenues reported.  According to the report, this is the fifth time in the previous six quarters that the server market has experienced a year-over-year decline in worldwide revenue. Server unit shipments decreased 3.9% year over year in 1Q13 to 1.9 million units as consolidation continued to be a strategic focus for many large and small customers around the globe.

For the first time in the history of the Worldwide Server Tracker, IDC identifies two types of modular form factors: blade servers and density optimized servers.  In terms of market share, HP maintained the number 1 spot in the blade server market in 1Q13 with 44.6% revenue share; while Cisco climbed up to share the second place position with IBM at 17.6% and 17.2% revenue share, respectively.  Dell maintained the fourth spot with 9.1% revenue share.

In comparison, density optimized servers, experienced very strong demand in 1Q13 with revenues growing 54.8% year over year in 1Q13 to $753 million.   In 1Q13, unit shipments of density optimized servers increased 39.3% to just under 215,000 servers. Density optimized servers now represent 6.9% of all server revenue and 11.2% of all server shipments.  According to IDC, Dell maintained the number 1 spot in the Density Optimized segment in 1Q13 with 47.3% revenue share.

“Cloud computing is increasingly being utilized as a method to transform the delivery of IT services. IDC finds customers are leveraging both internal private and external public cloud services,” said Jed Scaramella, research manager, Enterprise Servers. “The modular servers that are the building blocks for clouds (blades for private, density optimized for public) outperformed the market and continue to account for a higher share of market revenue.”

For the full IDC report covering the Q1 2013 Worldwide Server Market, please visit IDC’s website at http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24136113

Kevin Houston is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of BladesMadeSimple.com.  He has over 15 years of experience in the x86 server marketplace.  Since 1997 Kevin has worked at several resellers in the Atlanta area, and has a vast array of competitive x86 server knowledge and certifications as well as an in-depth understanding of VMware and Citrix virtualization.  Kevin works for Dell as a Server Specialist covering the Global 500 market.

Disclaimer: The views presented in this blog are personal views and may or may not reflect any of the contributors’ employer’s positions. Furthermore, the content is not reviewed, approved or published by any employer.