EMEA Server Update, Q4 2006

The EMEA server market was buoyant in Q4 2006, with several of the key vendors reporting growth for the last three months of the year. HP continued to lead the market both in terms of revenues and shipments, with 35% and 38% of the market, respectively. Its x86 division and aggressive tie-in programs drove this growth again. IBM took second place, with 28% of revenues for the quarter, while Sun Microsystems' revenue share remained static at 13%, despite growth into many new markets. Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) and Dell both languished further down the market at 8% each, due to little expansion outside of their core markets. While there were definite signs of renewed buying within the market, the year closed down slightly on 2005, with many of the initiatives launched in Q4 2006 only expected to see traction moving forward into 2007. This is reinforced by Forrester's recent findings in an IT budget survey of European SMBs indicating that replacing or upgrading server hardware will be the top IT priority for 2007.