Big fish still dominate as hyper-converged systems come into the mainstream

Just worms for Oracle as integrated platform market tanks in Q2

Nutanix, Dell and VMware are walking away with the hyper-converged infrastructure market as converged systems and reference architecture setups continue to suffer from shrinkage.

IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Converged Systems Tracker for the second quarter of the year show that the total converged systems market grew 9.9 per cent year-on-year to $3.5bn, but only because hyper-converged systems continued last quarter’s 75 per cent growth surge.

The tracker looks at three segments: certified reference systems and integrated infrastructure; integrated platforms; and hyper-converged systems.

The certified reference systems and integrated infrastructure space generated a combined $1.3bn in revenue in the quarter, a decline of 13.9 per cent on the same period a year ago.

Dell was top dog in this area with $639.8m in sales, although this was down 15.6 per cent. Lagging considerably - at least in terms of actual sales - was Cisco and NetApp with FlexPod sales of $481m, down 6.8 per cent. In distant third, HPE managed $108.4m in sales, down from $184.7m.

The standalone integrated platforms segment slipped by 12.5 per cent to $729.4m. Oracle was top dog here, with sales of $440.6m, down from $$510.6m in the second quarter of last year.

For yet another quarter, hyper-converged systems was where the action was with IDC reporting year-on-year growth of 78.1 per cent to $1.5bn.

IDC monitors this market by brand and also by the software owner, which deliver different supplier numbers.

By brand Dell Inc, with its VxRail-type systems, dominated proceedings with sales up 95 per cent to $418.7m. Second-placed Nutanix expanded slower than the market average, jumping 48.5 per cent to $275.3m.

The two account for 48.7 percent of the market.

Cisco and HPE were, for the second straight quarter, pretty much tied in third place. Cisco was up 45.2 per cent to $77.7m and HPE climbed 119.4 per cent to $72m, as its SimpliVity line lengthened its stride.

The also-rans - the Others section - accounted for 42 per cent of the market, growing 85 per cent to $611.2m.

The picture is radically different when IDC looked at the HCI software owners, because Dell numbers were split between VMware and Dell, while Nutanx picked up some bulk from Dell due to its OEM’d XC system.

The HCI software supplier rankings saw Nutanix coming out on top with sales of $497.7m, up 88.9 per cent. VMware was hot on its heels with revenue of $495.8m, up 96.7 per cent.

Dell tied for third place with Cisco and HPE. These three have revenues less than $80m each and shares beneath 5.5 per cent.®