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IDC: Worldwide External Disk Storage Systems Factory Revenues Rise 20.4% In Q2

(RTTNews) - Market intelligence and advisory services firm International Data Corp. or IDC Friday reported a 20.4% growth in worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues in the second quarter of 2010.

According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, which is a tool for analyzing the global disk storage market on a quarterly basis, total worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues were $5.02 billion in the quarter, compared with $4.24 billion in the prior-year quarter.

Commenting on the data, Liz Conner, senior research analyst, Storage Systems, stated, "The first half of 2010 showed continued signs of economic recovery in the disk storage systems market."

"Although the first half of 2009 was extremely weak due to the economic crisis, the gain from a relatively strong second half of 2009 shows continued customer investment and importance placed in the storage systems market," Conner noted.

IDC also said that EMC Corp. (EMC) maintained its lead in the external disk storage systems market with a 25.7% revenue share, followed by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) with a share of 13.6%.

NetApp, Inc. (NTAP) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) came into the third and fourth positions, with a market share of 11.4% and 11.3%, respectively. Dell Inc. (DELL) ended in the fifth position with a market share of 9.4%, IDC said.

Further, IDC said that total disk storage systems market grew 20.7% in the second quarter to $6.78 billion in revenues from $5.65 billion in the prior-year quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reached 3,645 petabytes, up 54.6% year-over-year.

IDC also reported a 29.2% growth in the total open networked disk storage market in the second quarter to $4.2 billion in revenues. There also, EMC continued its leadership with a revenue share of 28.9%, followed by NetApp with a revenue share of 13.6%.

In Network-attached storage (NAS), market grew 51.1% from last year. EMC drove the growth with a revenue share of 45.6%, followed by NetApp with a 25.2% share.

The Open storage area network (SAN) market grew 21.8% in the second quarter, with EMC contributing a revenue share of 21.8%. IBM came into the second position and HP in came into the third place with revenue shares of 15.9% and 14.8%, respectively.

In addition, IDC said that the Internet Small Computer System Interface or iSCSI SAN market recorded a revenue growth of 49% in the second quarter. In this market, Dell fetched the lead position with a revenue share of 32.9%, followed by HP, NetApp, and EMC, with their market share of 14.2%, 13.4%, and 13.3%, respectively.

According to Amita Potnis, senior research analyst, Storage Systems, the recent economic crisis had greatly affected the upper mid-range and high-end storage market. "It appears, however, that the market is heading toward a more cautious growth path going forward," Potnis added.