Report: IBM #1 in Global Server Revenue; Maintains Nine Consecutive Quarters of Leadership in Blade Servers; Leads High-End Market With the Mainframe

Market Wire, August, 2006

Gartner reported today that in the second quarter 2006, IBM (NYSE: IBM) retained its revenue lead in total worldwide servers with 30.5 percent revenue share, and increased shipments by 13.8 percent.(1) IBM's strength showed in systems that address enterprise integration and simplicity -- namely the blade servers and mainframes.

"We believe that today's results from Gartner confirm that IBM continues to lead in revenue for worldwide servers and continues to deliver systems that help meet client demand for enterprise integration and simplification with the System z and BladeCenter platforms," said Jim Stallings, general manager, IBM System z. "IBM has driven consistent innovation and execution for the benefit of clients worldwide."

IBM retained its lead as the number one blade server vendor in the world according to Gartner, garnering 42.8 percent revenue share in the second quarter 2006, 13 percent better than its closest competitor. IBM also led in worldwide blade server shipments with 35.4 percent, and announced today shipment of over half a million systems since the product's inception in 2002.

"Since its launch in 2002, IBM BladeCenter has grown to be the world's number one blade -- now with nine consecutive quarters as industry leader according to Gartner," said Susan Whitney, general manager, IBM BladeCenter and System x. "We believe IBM's leadership in the blade segment will continue as it grows the industry's largest ecosystem of collaborators developing solutions for a blade platform with Blade.org."

The report also showed IBM continues to lead the product pack in servers costing more that $100K with 27.1 percent revenue share in the second quarter 2006 for the System z platform.

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(1) Gartner, Servers Quarterly Statistics United States: Database, 22 August 2006.

Contact: Vineeta Durani IBM Media Relations 415-218-3494 vdurani@us.ibm.com