IDC: Disk Growth Slows

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues in the third quarter of 2007 (3Q07) grew 5.1% from a year ago to $4.4 billion, down slightly from the three previous quarters but still marking 19 consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market grew to $6.3 billion up 4.3% from the prior year's quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped grew 49.4% from a year-ago quarter, reaching 1.3 exabytes.

"External networked storage for open systems enjoyed healthy growth this quarter, pointing to the continuing need for solutions that help customers effectively store and manage data growth," said Brad Nisbet, program manager, IDC Storage Research. "In particular, we are seeing strong demand for NAS systems aimed at easing the pain associated with managing file-based data, and an increased demand for iSCSI systems in both SMB and virtualized server environments."

Total External Disk Storage Systems

EMC maintained its lead in the external disk storage systems market with 21.9% revenue share, followed by IBM and HP in a statistical tie for the number 2 position with 14.0% and 13.4% revenue share, respectively. Dell and Hitachi rounded out the top 5 with 9.3% and 8.5%, respectively. Among the top 5 suppliers, Dell posted the strongest year-over-year revenue growth (17.9%) during 3Q07.

Network Disk Storage SystemsThe total network disk storage market (NAS Combined with Open SAN) posted a healthy 9.7% year-over-year growth in the third quarter to $3.2 billion. EMC continues to maintain its leadership in the total network storage market with 27.8% revenue share, followed by HP and IBM with 13.2% and 12.3% revenue share, respectively.

In the Open SAN market, which reached $2.5 billion and grew 9.3% year over year, EMC was the number 1 vendor with 25.0% revenue share, followed by HP with 15.4%. The NAS market grew 11.4% year over year to $668 million, led by EMC with 38.1% revenue share and followed by Network Appliance with 27.2% share. The iSCSI SAN market continues to show strong momentum, posting 43.9% revenue growth year over year, reaching $207 million in the third quarter. Network Appliance continues to lead the market with 20.5% share, followed by EMC with 18.0% share.

"Although the mid- and high-end pricebands performed well, the majority of networked storage growth was driven by the low-end price bands ($0K $14.99K)," said Liz Conner, research analyst, IDC Storage Research. "The growth of low-end networked storage is being fueled by an increased understanding and confidence among SMB users who are seeking more effective solutions to manage an increasingly complex and expanding set of requirements related to data storage."

IDC