First quarter global server shipments rose 7.6 per cent over the previous year in 2008, while sales lifted 4.3 per cent.

Total revenue for the period was $13.6bn (£6.86bn).

Just under 2.3 million units were shipped worldwide during the first three months of the year, according to Gartner research driven by the shift to industry standard servers.

"There were a number of dynamics that affected the market to produce an initial quarter of growth for 2008,” said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner.

“For example, x86 server replacements were on an upswing as the year commenced, we continued to see build outs of large web datacentres, and emerging market growth forged ahead.”

HP continues to lead the world market, based on both revenue and shipment. The giant's sales rose 10 per cent to $4.01bn and it shifted 683,000 units.

IBM took second place for sales with $3.91bn, followed by Dell on $1.64bn. Those standings were reversed in the shipment rankings, with Dell's 516,000 leading its rival's 302,000.