Dell boosted server shipments in the second quarter by more than 24%, narrowing the gap with market leader Hewlett-Packard, while Sun Microsystems saw its revenue in the global market fall by nearly 7%, a market research firm reported.

Overall, the worldwide server market showed solid growth, driven in part by an upswing in x86 server replacements, Gartner reported Thursday. Revenue for the quarter rose 5.7% from the same period a year ago to $13.8 billion, and shipments increased more than 12% to 2.3 million units.

"In spite of economic constraints in some markets like the United States, on a worldwide basis, servers continued to grow in the second quarter of the year," Jeffrey Hewitt, research VP for Gartner, said in a statement.

Hewlett-Packard held on to its lead in terms of shipments, but second-place Dell managed to narrow the gap 3.4 percentage points. Dell was the only vendor of the top five to have double-digit growth, increasing shipments by 24.2%. Rounding out the top five were IBM, Sun, and Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens, respectively.

Of the top five vendors in terms of revenue, HP, IBM, and third-place Dell increased revenue in the second quarter, while No. 4 Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens experienced declines. Sun's revenue fell 6.8%, and Fujitsu's 0.1%.

IBM maintained its revenue lead in the server market. Rising sales of System p and System z brands offset some revenue declines in IBM's other brands. IBM's year-to-year revenue increased 11.5%, pushing its market share up 1.6%. The company's overall revenue share was 3.6% higher than second-place vendor Hewlett-Packard.

The overall market drivers behind the quarter included a rise in x86 server replacements that started in the first quarter, Hewitt said. "This, coupled with Web data center build outs and growth in emerging markets, produced solid Q2 results."

In a related note, InformationWeek Analytics has published its Blade Server Tech Report. The paper can be downloaded here. (registration required).