No wonder people get so testy when it comes to the server market. I mean come on folks, this is a $49 billion dollar market! Well according to The Inquirer, HP stayed ahead of the game with a nice 25.9 percent share of the existing market. This really shocked me. I knew HP was a player in this field, but those numbers really caught me off guard!

A recent report from IDC showed that IBM continued to be number one in the worldwide server market with 38.2 per cent market share in the fourth quarter, an increase of 6.5 per cent on the same period the year before.

HP stayed the number one player with 25.9 per cent share, with most of its 5.9 per cent growth attributed to strong sales of Proliant machines. Sun and Dell tied for the third position - each hholding 9.4 per cent share.

Fujitsu Siemens Fujitsu saw its share drop by 6.8 per cent during the period, with a 4.7 per cent share in the fourth quarter of 2004.

But in the X86 market, HP held the number one spot with 32.6 per cent share, while IBM and Dell tied for second place with 21 per cent share each. Nevertheless, IBM has improved compared to the same period last year - it grew by 26.1 per cent.