NPD Group: Top 8 Best-Selling x86-Based Brands In Q2

Servers With x86 Processors Soar

Branded x86 processors, such as Intel's Core i7-4790L quad-core processor, and the servers they power, were in high demand in the second quarter of 2015.

Vendors have seen a continued expansion of x86-based hyper-scale server infrastructures, and an array of refresh opportunities for x86-based platforms among enterprise and SMB customers.

The average price overall for x86 processors edged up 36.4 percent year over year from $338 in the 2014 second quarter to $461 in the second quarter of 2015.

Following are the top eight best-selling x86-based brands in the second quarter, according to NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based market research firm, which provides data from leading technology distributors. NPD Group's DistributorTrack sales database comprises primarily U.S. Global Technology Distribution Council members.

8. Oracle

Oracle was the eighth CPU chip brand with 0.6 percent dollar share in the second quarter, down 1.3 points from the second quarter last year, according to NPD Group.

Most of the general-purpose and x86 server systems Oracle sells utilize Intel's x86 chips, but the company recently unveiled a new, low-cost processor called Sonoma in July for its lower-priced SPARC-based servers.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based company's flagship architecture is the 64-bit SPARC, and its most recent generation of SPARC is the M7 processor. Manufactured at 20nm, the 32-core processor contains DDR4 DRAM and serves as a successor to the 12-core M6.

7. Lenovo

Lenovo's branded x86 servers also took 0.6 percent of the dollar share in the second quarter, up 0.5 points from the same quarter last year, according to NPD Group.

A year ago, Lenovo closed the acquisition of IBM's x86 server business, buying the company's System x, BladeCenter, and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems and NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers.

More recently, at the end of August, the company partnered with Red Hat, so that Red Hat's Enterprise Linux OpenStack will be offered with multiple Lenovo and ThinkServer x86 models.

Among Lenovo's x86 products are its M5 series servers running on Intel's desktop 3.60GHz Xeon processors.

6. Super Micro Computer

Super Micro Computer was the sixth best-selling x86-based brand in 2015, with 3.3 percent of the dollar share in the second quarter of 2015. That's up from last year, when the San Jose, Calif.-based company did not have any percentage of the overall dollar share at all.

The Intel whitebox company offers a broad x86-based portfolio, such as the SuperServer 5018A with an Intel Atom processor. SuperMicro's Xeon E5 processor-based brand proved to be particularly successful in the third quarter, coming in third place as the best-selling model in the quarter.

5. IBM

Despite its x86 divestiture, IBM was the fifth best-selling x86-based brand in the second quarter, taking 5 percent of the dollar share. The company's share increased 1.9 points from the same quarter last year.

Over the past year, IBM's high-end systems were helped, in part, by the company's z13 mainframe refresh. IBM's branded 4.35GHz, 32-core processor was a popular commodity in the second quarter, according to NPD Group. This processor was the fourth best-selling model in the second quarter.

4. AMD

According to NPD Group, processor manufacturer AMD was the fourth best-selling x86-based brand. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company took 8.4 percent of the dollar share in the second quarter, down 0.6 points from the same quarter a year ago.

AMD, which retains an x86 cross-license agreement with Intel, has brought several popular x86 CPUs to market. In the second quarter, the company's 4GHz, quad-core Athlon CPU was the seventh best-selling model, according to NPD Group.

3. Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems was the third best-selling x86-based brand in the second quarter, according to NPD Group. Cisco experienced growth in the second quarter, taking 11.2 percent of the dollar share, up 4.4 points from the same quarter a year ago.

The company's x86 small-form-factor E-series servers and network compute engines are particularly successful, and Cisco's 2.6GHz, 14-core Xeon E5-2697 v3 processor was the ninth best-selling x86-based model in the second quarter, according to NPD Group, spearheading the San Jose, Calif.-based company's success.

2. Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard came in second place on the list of best-selling x86-based brands in the second quarter.

The company took 25.1 percent of the dollar share, down 1.6 points from the same quarter a year ago.

HP's x86 portfolio includes its ProLiant scale-up servers for business-critical workloads, including the high-density four-socket ProLiant DL560 Gen9 server and the four-socket compute blade Bl660c Gen9 server, both powered by Intel Xeon processors.

1. Intel

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel took the top spot as the best-selling x86 brand in the second quarter, according to NPD Group. The semiconductor manufacturer was the best-selling brand with 45.5 percent of the dollar share, but that's still a 6.8 point drop from the same quarter a year ago, where it took 52.3 percent of the dollar share.

Intel, which contains a cross-licensing contract with AMD for the x86 architecture, pushes a popular processor portfolio, between its Core i7 processor, Core i5 processor and Xeon E5 processor. The company's quad-core 4GHz Core i7 processor was the best-selling x86 model in the second quarter, according to NPD Group.