The worldwide server revenue for the second quarter surged by 5.7 percent to hit $13.8 billion, as IBM continued to hold the top spot with a relatively slower revenue growth, revealed a data compiled by Gartner.

The data said the total server shipments around the globe reached 2.3 million units during the second quarter of 2008, with a 12.2 percent increase in shipments over the same quarter the year earlier.

With IBM maintaining its leadership position, Hewlett-Packard slugged at the second position without any growth, said Gartner.

However, Dell posted the biggest gains in worldwide server revenue in the second quarter, replacing Sun Microsystems out of third place.

Dell'''s server revenue climbed an impressive 15 percent from the second quarter last year, compared with 11.5 percent growth for IBM and 2.9 percent growth for HP, Gartner said. Sun's revenue plummeted 6.8 percent while Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens stayed still.

Dell made the most of an upswing in x86 server replacements during the quarter, which was the biggest driver for the market as a whole, according to Gartner.

Overall Sales of the server market were also boosted by data center build outs and growth in emerging markets.