Sun still tops the Unix market, the largest single section of the server business. The company had sales of $6.5bn for the year and a 38 percent market share. HP maintained its No. 2 spot in the Unix market, with a 30 percent share and $5.2bn in sales. No. 3 IBM, though, suffered less than competitors. Its revenue dropped 7 percent to $3.6bn, but its market share increased 1.1 percentage points to 21 percent, a bigger increase than Sun's 0.5 and HP's 0.3 percentage points. However, the Unix market shrank 11 percent to $17bn in 2002, a faster decline than in the overall market. Intel and Linux rising
Sales of Linux servers increased 63 percent from 2001 to 2002, from $1.3bn to $2bn, Gartner said. The move mirrors a more dramatic 90 percent growth in the United States in the fourth quarter. IBM leads the Linux market with $759m in revenue -- more than twice its 2001 sales -- and 37 percent market share. HP, in second place, had $507m in revenue, while third-place Dell had $365m. Dell, though, lost 5 percentage points of market share while IBM gained 8.3 percentage points. For servers using Intel processors or compatible models from companies such as AMD, the market shrank 5 percent to $16.4bn. Now trailing the Unix server market by less than $1bn, the 2002 statistics hint that Gartner could be correct in its forecast that Intel servers will generate more revenue than Unix servers in 2003. In Intel servers, HP continues to lead with $5.1bn in sales and 31 percent market share. But HP, which ascended to Intel-server leadership through its acquisition of Compaq in 2002, lost 3.2 percentage points of market share between 2002 and 2001. No. 2 Dell gained 1.9 percentage points to reach a 19.6 percent share in the market with sales of $3.2bn. No. 3 IBM grew the fastest, with sales growing 16 percent to $2.8bn and a 3.1 percentage-point gain boosting its market share to 17.3 percent.
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