HP and IBM claimed an equal share of the global server market in the first quarter of 2008, according to IDC, echoing figures from rival analyst firm Gartner published last week.

IDC estimates that companies worldwide spent $13bn (£6.56bn) on over two million new servers in the three months ending 31 March this year, 3.5 per cent more than during the same quarter of 2007 with unit shipments up 7.8 per cent.

The research company attributed HP with 29 per cent of the market by revenue, and IBM 28.1 per cent. Dell took 12.3 per cent, Sun Microsystems 10.5 per cent and Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens 6.3 per cent.

By operating system, Windows-based servers accounted for 39.2 per cent of all server revenue, with Unix systems accounting for 30.6 per cent of spending. Revenue from sales of Linux servers grew 8.4 per cent to $1.8bn year on year, with IBM System z servers running IBM’s own z/OS operating system accounting for $1.1bn and 8.4 per cent of the total spend.