Global external controller-based disk storage market drops 7.3 percent in Q3-09

STAMFORD, USA: Worldwide external controller-based (ECB) disk storage revenue totaled more than $3.9 billion in the third quarter of 2009, a 7.3 percent decline from the same period in 2008, according to Gartner Inc.

“The year-over-year decline of 7.3 percent indicates that the economic downturn’s impact on the disk array storage market is loosening its grip. The prior two quarters in 2009 showed declines in the double digits. This is good news for storage vendors, because it’s the first sign of a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Donna Taylor, principal research analyst for Gartner’s global Storage Quarterly Statistics program.

EMC maintained its No. 1 position with 26.7 percent revenue market share (see Table 1). EMC’s market share is more than double that of its closest competitor, IBM, which placed second with 13.2 percent. HP came in third with 10.8 percent. Hitachi, Dell and NetApp ranked fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, by the narrowest of margins.

Hitachi achieved an 8.8 percent market share, while Dell and NetApp each achieved 8.6 percent. Dell and NetApp’s revenue was separated by only $2 million. Sun Microsystems placed seventh with 3.6 percent market share.

Table 1
Worldwide ECB Disk Storage Vendor Revenue Estimates for 3Q09 (Millions of US Dollars)Note1: Note1 EMC revenue excludes OEM revenue from Dell and Fujitsu Siemens.
Note2: Hitachi/Hitachi Data Systems revenue excludes OEM revenue from HP and Sun Microsystems.
Note 3: Others revenue in 3Q09 includes new vendor coverage not available in 3Q08, as well as enhanced estimates of the “white box” market
Source: Gartner (December 2009)