IBM has stolen back the lead in the worldwide server market after losing out to HP earlier this year, according to new research.

Gartner's Q1 results published in May showed that worldwide server revenue grew 4.3 per cent compared with the same period last year.

However, new findings have prompted the analyst firm to revise its numbers to 2.5 per cent for the first quarter of 2008.

Gartner's previous data showed that HP had taken the lead in worldwide server revenue.

The updated statistics show that IBM accounted for 29.4 per cent of revenue in the first quarter of 2008. HP was the number two vendor at 28.3 per cent.

"Based on updated guidance and additional analysis of the data, we have revised the revenue statistics for the first quarter of 2008," said Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner.

"We commented in the previous release that HP and IBM continue to vie for market leadership in the worldwide server market based on revenue.

"This is still the case, but the updated data shows that IBM maintained the number-one vendor position in worldwide server revenue in the first quarter of 2008."