In an effort to maintain the top spot in the storage management software
space, EMC is acquiring Astrum Software, a privately held storage
resource management firm.
The acquisition of Boston-based Astrum Software is the ninth software
acquisition by EMC in the last three years and expands the company’s
portfolio of SRM software, the fastest-growing segment of the storage
management software market.
Astrum, whose products are optimized for automated file management,
file-level reporting and capacity utilization in small and medium
networked storage environments, will strengthen EMC’s ability to address
a full range of automated networked storage requirements, EMC said. The
acquisition includes approximately 30 employees and Astrum Software’s
portfolio of storage management software. Financial terms of the
acquisition were not disclosed.
“Astrum Software will help us provide our mid-tier customers with a more
comprehensive view of their storage resources and further simplify the
implementation and management of networked storage,” said Erez Ofer,
EMC’s executive vice president for Open Software Operations.
EMC also said it will continue Astrum Software’s existing OEM
relationship with Overland Storage, a provider of storage management
software solutions. “EMC’s selection of this technology is a big win for
Overland Storage, EMC and Astrum Software customers,” proclaimed John
Cloyd, vice president and general manager of Overland’s Storage
Management Business Unit. “The greater technical and financial resources
EMC will bring to bear on the future development of Astrum Software’s
solutions promise a bright future for our customers and partners.”
EMC Number 1 In Storage Management Software, Gartner Says
Gartner, meanwhile, reported that the storage management software market
suffered its first-ever year-over-year decline last year. The market
reported license revenue of $4.7 billion in 2002, a 6% decline over
2001, according to Gartner.
EMC remained the number 1 storage management software vendor in 2002,
with market share of 25.6%, while its nearest rival, Veritas Software,
garnered 18.6%. Gartner analysts said that if $1.5 billion in array- and
switch-based software were excluded from the analysis, Veritas would be
in the lead, and EMC would move to the number 3 slot behind IBM.
HP acquired Compaq Computer in 2001, and even though revenue declined 2
percent in 2002, the combined company moved up into the number 4 slot
from the number 5 position earned by Compaq in 2001.
“Only three of the top 10 vendors were able to grow software revenue in
a very challenging year,” said Carolyn DiCenzo, vice president for
Gartner’s storage group. “Hitachi/Hitachi Data Systems, which sells its
storage array software directly, and through Hewlett-Packard and Sun
Microsystems, saw 77% growth in 2002.”
In addition to sixth-ranked Hitachi, fifth-ranked Computer Associates
grew sales 16%, and ninth-ranked Network Appliance saw 19.8% growth.
Legato, BMC and StorageTek rounded out the top 10, at 7, 8 and 10,
respectively.