back to article Dell overtakes HPE in server shipments as worldwide sales shrink

Worldwide server revenue is down 0.8 per cent while shipments are up by two per cent, according to Gartner, and Dell has pipped HPE to the top spot for shipments. The second quarter of 2016 saw very regionalised trends in server revenues and shipments. Everywhere except for Asia/Pacific and North America is in decline, though …

  1. Androgynous Cow Herd

    Dell leads in shipments, HPE in revenue...

    One could interpret that as a sign that the Dell shipments are made up of less expensive entry level kit while HP is selling more upmarket configurations, which is where the little margin that exists in x86 servers is maximized.

    Also, of course many people at Dell are paid on revenue without a thought being given to margin at all.

    "We lose money on everything we sell, but make up for it in volume"

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      If you lose money on everything you sell, volume is hardly going to help.

      1. Robert Moore

        > If you lose money on everything you sell, volume is hardly going to help.

        The whooooosh sound you just heard was the joke going right over your head.

        For more information:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Dell leads in shipments, HPE in revenue...

      Considering that cost to customers for servers is usually at parity between Dell and HP, your thinking that because Dell collects less margin per server, that Dell is using inferior gear, and since HP's margin is nice and fat on servers, they must be using more expensive gear/components?

      Sorry, that math does not compute! LOL

      Your convoluted conclusion is one that only an HP badger could arrive at.

      Please keep on thinking that while Dell eviscerates HP's market share on all fronts as Dell invests and grows while HP shrinks, divides and sells off.

      #GoBigWinBig

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dell leads in shipments, HPE in revenue...

        So HP has customers who are buying/being sold richer configs where all the margin is. Dell does not. You plonker Rodney.

  2. WageSlave

    Many are not ...

    Whilst in some pure acquisition teams revenue is king, that's not the case for the bulk of the Dell team. You could spin the numbers all sorts of ways: Dell is better value like-for-like, for example! But there's no denying the market movement.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shipments are up because of stock buybacks.

    Lots of small IT firms are headed by folks that own stock in the bigger companies. The buybacks are giving these folks some spare cash to spend on upgrades. Don't expect it to last.

  4. Gis Bun

    So HPE sold less but had more revenue? Over-priced cheaply made servers with less support?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      More richly configured servers with a lot more profitability. That's why HPE will not give a FF who ships the highest volume.

  5. irateitguy

    HP support requirement

    I think part of HP sales slipping is the move they made to require anyone wanting firmware for servers to have a expensive support agreement. I use to buy second hand servers for lab work etc but now i wouldn't even take one if it was brand new and free. I replaced all my equipment with new Dell's

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Growth strategy from dell

    The reason is very simple.

    Dell as invested massively in developing a large range of products that fits to multiple needs, while hp the same old concepts, blades hp dl360 and 380.... Bringing nothing but new processors mainly. Dell by the other side explored multiple concepts, in particular converged and modular approaches and product integration.

    Final but not least, being responsible for a massive amount of hardware and ordering lots of kits, for the same equipment, dell provides cheaper prices. In terms of quality... They all use the same disks, cpus, ram... Is irrelevant, what changes is the box and interconnectivity. Another negative side on HP is the support that is largely poor, especially when it concerns to firmware, they have the obsession of creating custom drivers, that often are very buggy, Dell simply uses the ones that are done by the chip manufacture.

    HP is falling behind... That is viewable in all fronts, there is lack of vision or too much influence from board of investors that are clueless about technology and just care about numbers.

    Don't take me wrongly, because I work in a essentially HP house, with millions spent with them. But we started shutting because they don't provide answers for new challenges.

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