Research company Gartner said that the shift in leader has occurred due to customers holding off buying new equipment from IBM, as it prepares to release next-generation versions later this year.

Gartner added (via Reuters) that the number of servers sold grew 23% during the first quarter, while revenue increased 6% in the high-end server space.

Dell, the number three server maker, posted the strongest growth among top vendors during the quarter, with server revenue reported to be up 36% percent.

The Sun Microsystems division posted the sharpest decline, with server revenue down 39% for the first quarter.