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Top dog EMC crushes whimpering rivals in storage pack

Is server storage cramping array sales?

IDC's Storage Tracker bloodhounds have tracked the vendors across the market in the second quarter and rated them, and it looks like not a lot has changed in the hierarchy of the storage pack. EMC's market share is rising, again. Most everybody else is down, again.

For external disk storage compared to a year ago:

  • Alpha dog EMC is up to a 30.4 per cent revenue share; it previously had 28.7 per cent.
  • Second-ranked pooch IBM is down to a 12.9 per cent share from its 13.7 per cent piece.
  • Equal-second mutt NetApp has a 12.1 per cent share down from 12.8 per cent.
  • HP has a 10.7 per cent share; it previously held 11 per cent.
  • Hitachi is flat at 8.1 per cent.
  • Dell has emerged from the Others category, as it now has 7.8 per cent.
  • The "Others" category – the combined value of storage vendors which have a smaller slice of the pie – control 18 per cent of the market. This number rises to 25.8 per cent if Dell is included, which would be down on the year-ago number, 26.8 per cent.

The chart shows the overall picture and quarterly trends.

IDC Storage Tracker Q2 212

So EMC can bark away while the other vendors can make regretful whimpering noises. HP at least is doing better – looking at its three most recent quarters – and IBM is up sequentially too. Maybe Big Blue can now cling on to second place after having exchanged that rank with third-placed NetApp in the last two quarters.

The total external disk market was worth just under $6bn in the quarter, 6.5 per cent up on a year ago, economic issues notwithstanding. There was strong demand in emerging regions of the world plus increased demand for mid-range systems – the ones with prices from $25,000 to $249,999. SAN is growing faster than NAS by the way, witness an 8 per cent rate versus a 2.5 per cent rate.

When IDC looks at total disk storage, adding in storage shipped as DAS with servers, the picture is of EMC, HP, IBM and Dell selling more than a year ago but NetApp and the "Others" selling less. The chart shows the overall picture again:

IDC Total Disk Storage Tracker Q2212
  • EMC is still alpha canine, with a 22.6 per cent revenue share, up from 21.6 per cent a year ago.
  • HP is now top dog but one at 19.3 per cent; it was 19.2 per cent a year ago and 18.2 per cent in the first quarter.
  • IBM is third mutt with 15.6 per cent, 0.1 per cent higher than a year ago and up from last quarter's 14.9 per cent.
  • Dell is fourth at 11.4 per cent, up from last year's 11.1 per cent.
  • NetApp is the lowly fifth – a position it has had time to get used to – with 9 per cent, down from last quarter's 10.5 per cent and last year's 9.6 per cent.
  • The Others category had 22.1 per cent market share, down from 23 per cent a year ago and 23.2 per cent last quarter.

Looking at the chart it's noticeable that EMC's growth isn't trending up as strongly as in external storage. HP has had three quarters of growth. IBM looks to have two opposing trends; peaks which are going down, and a larger number of non-peaks which are trending up. Dell's most recent three quarters show a fall, though. NetApp has become variable and the Others category is trending down.

El Reg storage desk thinks we might be seeing the resurgence of direct-attached storage affecting external storage sales here. ®

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