Total worldwide server revenue stood at $12.85 billion for the second quarter, with world shipments totalling 2.36 million. In world and European markets HP still leads the pack in terms of shipments and revenues.

Breaking down the movement in world figures Gartner said that in terms of x86-based server form factors, blade servers rose 1.1 per cent in shipments and 7.3 percent in revenues for the quarter. The x86-based rack-optimised form factor fell 3.1 per cent in shipments, but climbed 3.1 percent in revenues for the second quarter.

In the EMEA region, the "other CPU segment", which primarily covers mainframes, showed the weakest result, with a 37.1 percent year-on-year decline. "The market's general weakness was compounded by a cyclical low in terms of the life cycle of products", said Gartner.

The RISC/Itanium Unix segment was also very weak, said Gartner, with a 25.1 percent decline, as "migration away from Unix platforms continued".

But despite the overall Unix weakness, Gartner said IBM continued to do well, with its share of all RISC/Itanium Unix revenue increasing to nearly 53 percent.