External Disk Storage Revenue Declines, IDC Says

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted a year-over-year decline of 0.5% with revenues totaling $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08), according to the IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market revenues were $7.3 billion, a decline of 5.9% from the prior year's fourth quarter, driven by weakness in server systems sales. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reach 2,460 petabytes, growing only 27.3% year over year.

"Because of the global economic crisis, the last quarter of 2008 was tough for the disk storage systems market, resulting in a market decline from the same quarter last year," said Natalya Yezhkova, research manager, Storage Systems. The negative impact, however, varied among market segments. For instance, high-end storage was impacted negatively by a freeze in end-user spending and longer purchasing cycles; but some low-end and midrange storage segments actually increased as end users broadened their search for storage solutions in these lower-cost segments to satisfy their increasing storage needs while optimizing investments in storage infrastructure."

IDC