EMEA Server Spending Increased 4.1 Percent in 1Q19

The EMEA server market in 1Q19reported a year-over-year increase in vendor revenues of 4.1% to $4.1 billion and a decrease of 3.6% in units shipped to around 520,000, according to IDC. Looking at the EMEA market in euros, reported revenues in the quarter decreased 3.7% to €4.6 billion, the first negative euro growth in the past eight quarters.

When viewing the EMEA market by product detail, the standout contributor to the quarter's growth was custom multinode units, which grew 53.5% in units and 89% in revenue. Dell and ODM Direct continue to perform strongly in this product segment, but the most interesting development is Lenovo's entrance into the market and its clear objective to penetrate the hyperscale market. Large systems continue to show strength, growing a further 5.4% year over year in units. Standard rack-optimized shipments declined 8.1% in units, although revenues continued to grow 7.7%.

At a Western European level, Ireland maintained a strong performance with 17.6% revenue growth. This is largely the result of continued hyperscale datacenter investments made into the country. France had a very good quarter with a 30% year over year increase in server revenue. With around $791 million in revenue, Germany maintained its position as the region's largest market.

"CEMA recorded another solid quarter, albeit slower than in previous periods, growing 10.9% year over year in the first quarter of 2019 and reaching revenue of $791.9 million. Strong sales were driven by a positive economy and to some degree by pulling the delivery of some projects forward. CEE subregion grew 4.3%, with revenue of $334.2 million. Russia recorded the strongest growth, thanks to the uptick in demand from cloud service providers. The MEA subregion grew 16.3% to $457.7 million in 1Q19. Bahrain, Egypt, and Israel were the top performers, benefitting from an IT infrastructure refresh and the delivery of large deals," said Jiri Helebrand, research manager, IDC CEMA.