FRANKFURT and PRAGUE, June 13, 2014— According to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) EMEA Server Tracker, vendor revenue in the EMEA server market hit $2.9 billion in 1Q14 — a $44 million increase over the corresponding quarter in 2013 (1.5% yearly). According to the tracker, 537,800 units were shipped in 1Q14 — 3.9% (or around 22,000 units) less than in 1Q13, due to the rise in market trends such as virtualization and integrated systems. (TZ)
The quarter-on-quarter performance in the EMEA region between 4Q13 and 1Q14 highlighted an overall negative trend, with a 20.3% decrease in vendor revenue and a 10.8% decrease in units shipped. The strong disparity between the corresponding quarters and quarter-on-quarter figures can be attributed to the very seasonal nature of the server market in EMEA, where many deals take place at the end of the calendar year.
“Units shipped in EMEA over the past three years have continued along the same consistent contraction trend, with 3Q11 the last quarter to see clearly positive unit growth in the region,” said Giorgio Nebuloni, research manager, Enterprise Server Group, IDC EMEA. “Despite a strong push for additional capacity in megadatacenter customers and renewed focus on tower and rack volumes by the largest OEMs, the macro-trend in the x86 market continues to point to value as the only real growth opportunity. Vendors with a strong focus on attach rates and profitability are the best positioned to win in this market.”
The increase in vendor revenue between 1Q13 and 1Q14 can be attributed to the positive growth in EMEA’s two largest product types, with rack-optimized and blade servers seeing 2.8% and 5.0% growth in revenue respectively. These two products contributed 76.1% to overall EMEA vendor revenue and saw a combined 3.4% increase compared with 1Q13, though their unit shipments continued to decrease. This has resulted in an increase in ASPs for rack-optimized and blade servers — an increase of around $357, according to IDC’s quarterly tracker.
“The EMEA blade market has seen strong growth in the higher-end market,” said Eckhardt Fischer, research analyst, IDC EMEA Enterprise Server Group. “This targeting of higher-end blade systems is allowing vendors to offset the drop in units shipped with higher average selling prices. This has made it possible for vendors in the EMEA market to generate positive dollar revenue growth despite a decrease in units. Blade servers have also seen increased traction in integrated systems and datacenters-in-a-box, a segment that over the past year has seen strong double-digit growth in the region. We expect this to remain a constant in 2014, as blades become part of broader integrated solutions.”