FRAMINGHAM, MA - Worldwide factory sales of servers grew 5.1% to $14.4 billion in the fourth quarter, the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, according to research firm IDC.

Unit shipments slowed 15.7% year-on-year, IDC said.

For the year, worldwide server revenue grew 6.2% to $49 billion, while worldwide unit shipments grew 19.3% to 6.3 million units.

Meanwhile, a competing research firm, Gartner Group, pegged server growth at 7.2%, at $49.5 billion in 2004.

IBM led the overall server market in 2004 with 33.3 percent revenue share, followed by HP with 26.6 percent share, said IDC. Sun, Dell and Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens round out the top five.

For the quarter, sales of volume servers (servers priced less than $25,000) rose, IDC said, the only segment to do so. Midrange and high-end enterprise servers fell, reflecting lower unit shipments and pricing pressures.

The volume servers lead in both revenue and unit shipment growth, demonstrating the impact these systems are having on the worldwide server marketplace.

Unix server unit shipments grew, with IBM retaking the lead worldwide, with a 36.3%. HP is no. 2 (27.6%), followed by Sun (25.3%). Linux server revenue grew 35.6% year-on-year, while unit shipments were up 29.1%.