HP retained the top storage spot in the first quarter, according to IDC’s Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, but IBM and Dell are growing fast. HP boasted 26.3% market share and $1.26 billion in revenues in the first quarter, IDC said (see table at bottom). IBM was second at 19.1% and $917 million — […]
HP retained the top storage spot in the first quarter, according to IDC’s Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, but IBM and Dell are growing fast.
HP boasted 26.3% market share and $1.26 billion in revenues in the first quarter, IDC said (see table at bottom). IBM was second at 19.1% and $917 million — but IBM’s year-over-year growth rate was 16.8%, compared to a 6.7% decline for HP.
EMC came in third at $559 million and an 11.7% share, with a year-over-year revenue decline of 9.8%. Dell came in fourth at $341 million and a 7.1% share — but with stunning 37.5% revenue growth.
As the high-end of the market continues to suffer, mid-range vendors like IBM and Dell are shining. In fact, Dell and IBM were the only storage vendors of the top six to post year-over-year revenue growth. Sun Microsystems and Hitachi also experienced declines.
SANs Hot, Overall Market Stabilizing
Worldwide disk storage systems factory revenue was $4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2003, down 1% compared with first quarter of 2002, IDC said. The slight year-over-year decline was less than the 8% year-over-year decline that was shown in the fourth quarter of 2002, indicating a continued trend toward stabilization in overall market spending.
The overall market was buoyed by strong sales in the Open SAN (Storage Area Network) market, which grew nearly 14% year-over-year in terms of factory revenues. Meanwhile, overall storage capacity continues to outpace revenue, growing nearly 49% year-over-year to 175.6 petabytes shipped during the first quarter.
“First quarter results continue to illustrate increased customer adoption of network storage systems,” both NAS and SAN, said Charlotte Rancourt, research director of IDC’s Disk Storage Systems program. “Network storage for the first time represents more than half (53%) of the total external disk storage systems market, up 5 points from a year ago. The traditional direct-attached storage systems represents 42% of total external disk storage revenue in the first quarter, down from 46% a year ago.”
In the total external disk storage system market, revenue decreased 2.7% year-over-year in the first quarter. HP maintained its number one position with 19.5% revenue share. EMC was number two with 17.4% revenue share. EMC and HP switch positions in the total external RAID market, where EMC led the market with 19.2% revenue share and HP followed closely with 18% revenue share.
EMC continues to maintain its leadership in the total network storage market (NAS combined with Open SAN) with 26.3% revenue share. In the Open SAN market, HP led with 27.9% revenue share, followed by EMC with 24.5% share. In the NAS market, Network Appliance maintained its number one position with 37.3% share, followed by EMC with 33.7% share.
“Once again, SAN-attached arrays accounted for an increasing portion of the storage systems market in the first quarter,” said Eric Sheppard, senior analyst of IDC’s Disk Storage System Program. “This growth can be attributed to the strong end-user demand for solutions that enable efficient use of storage resources.”
Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Factory Revenue, First Quarter 2003
Source: IDC. Revenues are in millions.
| Q1 2003 | Market | Q1 2002 | Market | Revenue Growth | |
| Vendor | Revenue | Share | Revenue | Share | 2002/2003 |
| HP | $1,260 | 26.3% | $1,351 | 27.9% | -6.7% |
| IBM | $917 | 19.1% | $785 | 16.2% | 16.8% |
| EMC | $559 | 11.7% | $620 | 12.8% | -9.8% |
| Dell | $341 | 7.1% | $248 | 5.1% | 37.5% |
| Sun Microsystems | $284 | 5.9% | $313 | 6.4% | -9.2% |
| Hitachi | $284 | 5.9% | $310 | 6.4% | -8.5% |
| Others | $1,156 | 24.1% | $1,221 | 25.2% | -5.3% |
| All Vendors | $4,801 | 100.0% | $4,847 | 100.0% | -0.9% |
eSecurity Editor Paul Shread has covered nearly every aspect of enterprise technology in his 20+ years in IT journalism, including an award-winning series on software-defined data centers. He wrote a column on small business technology for Time.com, and covered financial markets for 10 years, from the dot-com boom and bust to the 2007-2009 financial crisis. He holds a market analyst certification.
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