IDC numbers show Dell server storage booming

While NetApp NAS revenues are busted

IDC quarterly disk storage revenue numbers have shown Dell booming in direct-attach drives (DAS) and NetApp fumbling the ball in network-attached storage (NAS).

The IDC numbers refer to world-wide quarterly supplier factory revenue numbers for the third quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of this year. In total, disk storage market terms revenues have shrunk from $6.63bn to $6.0bn, reflecting the recession, with HP the big cheese with $1.1bn disk storage revenues in the third quarter this year, followed by EMC at $1.06bn, IBM at $939m, Dell at $786m, NetApp at $381m, Hitachi at $356m, Sun at $266m, Fujitsu at $183, and NEC at $66m.

IDC also provide numbers for the external disk market, and by subtracting those from the first numbers we get direct-attached disk storage revenues: and here is a big surprise. In a DAS market that shrank 9 per cent year-on-year, Dell grew its DAS revenues 27 per cent, from $277m last year to $379m this year. Fujitsu grew its revenues 57 per cent, meaning it went from $32m to $75m, as Fujitsu Siemens Computers revenues were added in.

All other vendors listed above recorded a fall in their DAS sales. HP led overall with $596m, down 19 percent year-on-year. They were followed by Dell jumping from third to second place, and then IBM in third place at $362m, down 9 per cent. Sun recorded a 65 per cent fall in DAS revenues, from $119m a year ago to $72m. It seems its server sales tanked.

The other big movement was in the NAS sector. In revenue market share terms, EMC grew its share by 24.1 per cent over the period to a 46.4 per cent share ($415m), while NetApp saw its share fall 7.2 per cent to 24.5 percent, with $219m revenue, down from the $236m recorded a year ago.

EMC and NetApp totally dominate the NAS market with a 71 per cent per cent revenue share. IBM is a distant trailing third with a 4.8 per cent share of NAS revenues, down from 6 per cent a year ago - and that is all or mostly NetApp N-Series based.

The other big NAS revenue mover was Sun, which saw its revenue share grow a massive 245 per cent. But it does have a tiny part of the market: just 1.3 per cent ($12m) after this revenue spurt over the year. It is thought that is due to the Open Storage 7000 line, the one that includes ZFS. Fujitsu also grew its share due to the inclusion of Fujitsu Siemens Computers revenue, after that joint-venture with Siemens became a fully-owned Fujitsu operation.

IBM overtook HP in the SAN market to claim second place behind EMC, with its 22.7 per cent share ($567m), down 21.2 per cent year-on-year. IBM recorded $380m in the quarter, up 6.2 per cent, with HP down to $354m from its $425m a year ago.

NetApp has grown its SAN revenues 1.6 per cent and its quarterly results were excellent, despite the NAS market decline. In a disk storage market that was down overall, there were bright spots for Dell, EMC, IBM, Sun and Fujitsu in the IDC numbers, as well as for other suppliers whose revenues shrank less than the market. All the suppliers will be hoping for a server-led uptick in storage revenues over the next couple of quarters. ®