WW External Disk Systems Increased 19% in 2010

While other IT infrastructure segments have yet to reach their previous record revenue mark, worldwide external controller-based (ECB) disk storage exceeded its previous high set in 2008 by $1.4 billion in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide ECB storage revenue surpassed $19.4 billion in 2010, an 18.1 percent increase from 2009 revenue of $16.5 billion.

"Storage infrastructure modernization, expanded server and desktop virtualization projects, disk-based backup and archiving deployments, new file-oriented applications, and cloud-based service offerings are the engines that are propelling ECB disk storage vendor revenue growth," said Roger Cox, research vice president at Gartner. "Clearly, IT executives are showing a willingness to invest in new and modern ECB disk storage solutions that address complexity, reduce opex and improve utilization while satisfying demanding service-level agreements."

With 80 percent share, it is noteworthy to observe that even though block-access ECB disk storage grew 14.9 percent over 2009 in 2010, this large segment grew only 3.4 percent over 2008. File-access ECB disk storage grew 36.2 percent in 2010 over 2009, as well as 37.6 percent over 2008.

EMC increased its worldwide ECB disk storage revenue market share to 28 percent in 2010 and 28.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. NetApp experienced the strongest growth among the top-tier vendors in 2010 with a revenue increase of 50.9 percent from 2009.

                      WW External Controller-Based Disk Storage
                            Vendor Revenue Estimates for 2010
                                       (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

• Note 1: 4Q10 EMC revenue includes the Isilon acquisition but excludes OEM revenue from Dell and Fujitsu Technology Solutions.
• Note 2: NetApp revenue excludes OEM revenue from IBM.
• Note 3: 4Q10 HP revenue includes the 3PAR acquisition.
• Note 4: Hitachi/HDS revenue excludes OEM revenue from HP, Sun Microsystems and Oracle.
• Note 5: Fujitsu’s branded revenue does not include products sold under the EMC and NetApp brands.

    Source: Gartner (March 2011)

                       WW External Controller-Based Disk Storage
                             Vendor Revenue Estimates for 4Q10
                                      (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

• Note 1: 4Q10 EMC revenue includes the Isilon acquisition but excludes OEM revenue from Dell and Fujitsu Technology Solutions.
• Note 2: 4Q10 HP revenue includes the 3PAR acquisition.
• Note 3: NetApp revenue excludes OEM revenue from IBM.
• Note 4: Hitachi/HDS revenue excludes OEM revenue from HP, Sun Microsystems and Oracle.
• Note 5: Fujitsu’s branded revenue does not include products sold under the EMC and NetApp brands.

    Source: Gartner (March 2011)

Gartner ECB disk storage reports reflect hardware only revenue, as well as hardware revenue associated with financial leases and managed services. Optional and separately priced storage software revenue and storage area network infrastructure components are excluded.