The Middle East and Africa (MEA) x86 server market grew by 9.9% in volumes during in the third quarter of 2013 with revenue rising 10.6% and Kenya and Nigeria posting strong figures..

This was revealed by the International Data Corporation (IDC) in its latest 'EMEA Quarterly Server Tracker' report, which showed strong growth figures of the x86 server market in the MEA.

African markets that showed strong server shipment figures were Kenya and Nigeria securing the highest growth in the MEA region in Q3 2013, registering an annual shipment growth of 67.1% and 62.8%, respectively.

"Sizeable projects conducted by financial institutions and telecom operators contributed to the strong server growth seen in Nigeria, while the majority of large deals conducted in Kenya during the third quarter of the year were in the banking and utilities sectors, with the government sector taking a back seat," said Zeeshan Gaya, research manager for servers and systems at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey

North African nations such as Morocco and Tunisia also recorded strong year-on-year server shipments growth of 35.7% and 21.8% respectively.

Strong growth figures in these countries were driven by the stable nature of the political situation and corresponding investments in the government, banking, and telecommunications sectors, the IDC explained.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian market continued to take strain and slumped 36.6% year-on-year in volume terms due to project delays and cancellations brought about by the ongoing political instability in the country and associated uncertainty, says the IDC.

According to the IDC the North African country also experienced a slump in the external storage market in the third quarter of 2013.

Swapna Subramani, senior research analyst, Systems and Infrastructure Solutions at the IDC said, “Egypt predictably declined by 17% owing to continued political instability and uncertainty in the country.”