Server sales in Western Europe rose by four per cent in the three months to the end of September following two quarters of falling sales, according to research firm Gartner Dataquest.

The number of servers sold increased from 256,000 to 267,000. The rise reflects renewed investment in IT from corporates, which took a breather during the first half of the year after heavy Year 2000-related spending, said Gartner analyst Karen Benson.

Risc/Unix servers running Linux, Sun Solaris or other Unix-based operating systems gained most of the new investment, eating into sales of Intel machines running Windows NT. Shipments of Linux/Unix servers rose by 43 per cent while Intel shipments rose by a single percentage point during the quarter.

Western European server shipment estimates - Q3 2000

"Front-end web and back-end engines are creating a strong demand for powerful reliable Unix systems," said Benson.

Compaq lost two points of market share but remained the market leader with 32 per cent.

IBM and Dell both gained a point, rising to 19 per cent and 11 per cent respectively while Sun jumped from four per cent to eight per cent. Hewlett Packard (HP) fell by one point to 13 per cent, but kept its position as number three in the market.

Shares in Sun, HP and IBM all rose on back of the figures from Gartner Dataquest.

Overall, the UK market was cited as showing above average growth for the period.