Overall revenues for the market were $49.5 billion, compared with $46.2 billion in 2003. IBM led the market with a 32.5 percent share, increasing sales by 9.3 percent to $16.1 billion from $14.7 billion a year ago.

HP came in second with a 27.1 percent market share, boosting sales 6.7 percent to $13.4 billion from $12.6 billion a year ago. Sun Microsystems Inc. came in third, as sales declined 4 percent to $5.2 billion from $5.5 billion last year, or a 10.6 percent market share. Dell increased sales by 20 percent to $4.8 billion from $3.99 billion a year ago. Dell had 9.7 percent of the market.

In terms of overall shipments for 2004, the market increased by 20.5 percent to 6.7 million units from 5.6 million units in 2003. HP led the market by shipping 1.9 million servers, an increase of 19 percent over 2003 and a 28.5 percent market share. Dell and IBM, however, had higher growth rates at 27.4 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively. Dell shipped 1.4 million units and IBM 1.1 million, or 21 percent and 15.9 percent of the market, respectively.