The small- and mid-sized business market for servers is hot, said McLaughlin, because "so many small businesses are finally seeing the benefit of integrating into a server environment." Dell in particular took advantage of the low-cost trend, "and made a ton of money off low-end Web servers" this quarter, said McLaughlin.
Dell also benefited from the rise in sales of Linux-based servers, which now make up 12.4 percent of all server revenues. The Round Rock, Texas-based direct seller saw its Linux sales figures jump nearly 50 percent. "Dell had a huge Linux push that showed in the numbers," said McLaughlin.
Total revenues from Linux server sales increased 38.7 percent over the same quarter last year, while sales of Windows-based servers -- still the leader with 36.8 percent of the market -- climbed just 21.6 percent.
Typically, server sales in the first quarter of a year dip compared to the previous quarter, which historically is the hottest three months of the year.
"Last year's Q4 was a huge quarter, and although we weren't expecting sales to be flat this quarter, they're up a bit more than we thought," said McLaughlin.
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