Gartner on Wednesday reported that worldwide server shipments in the second quarter of 2013 rose an anemic 4 percent over the second quarter of 2012, while total server revenue fell 3.8 percent over the same period.

However, those numbers are only part of the story. The big drag on the server market continues to be the Unix part, where sales and shipments are down dramatically.

But other factors also play their part. Remember how blade servers looked to take over server business? No more. And anyone who thinks customers in the U.S. will pull the server market back into strong growth is mistaken.

There is a lot going on in the server market, according to Gartner. Turn the page for an in-depth look at what's really happening here.