Computer Server Revenues Up 1.9%

In another sign that corporate technology spending is rebounding, worldwide computer server revenues rose 1.9% to $10.83 billion in the third quarter, a new report says.

It was the second consecutive period of year-over-year growth after nine quarters of declines.

Total unit shipments grew by 19.5%, boosted largely by the popularity of servers costing less than $25,000. Revenue from those so-called volume servers grew 9.5%.

Revenue in mid-range servers, between $25,000 and $500,000, rose 7% over last year. Meanwhile, the most expensive servers saw a 14% drop in revenue, according to the report by research firm IDC.

IBM Corp. remained the top overall server vendor, followed by Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Dell Inc. Of those four, only Sun’s revenue fell from last year.