WW Consumer NAS Shipments to Surpass 11 Million Units in 2015

The number of portable consumer electronics (CE) and computing devices in the home has grown over the last couple of years, and it will literally explode over the next few.

The need and use for NAS centralized storage will become more practical for one reason – content access. In a network with multiple computing devices, sharing common storage, content access and media sharing becomes a key component of driving consumer value. In a recent report, In-Stat believes that this will push worldwide consumer NAS unit shipments past 11 million in 2015.

"The concept of centralized storage was originally developed for businesses where access to corporate information through a network connected to multiple devices provided a number of competitive advantages," says Norm Bogen, VP Research. "This context, where benefits are gained connecting multiple devices to a centralized network or storage system, never materialized in the home until recently. Now, with so many different devices in the home, the value of centralized storage is becoming more apparent. The difference, however, is that the need for home network storage is driven by practicality, while in business the driver is efficiency."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• The consumer NAS market opportunity will continue to be driven by consumers that use a number of portable CE and computing devices in the home and demand remote access to their content.
• Europe will claim over 50% of all consumer NAS unit shipments in 2015.
• The estimated household penetration of consumer NAS in North America will be 4.4% at year-end 2015.
• Worldwide revenue for the consumer NAS market was approximately $678.4 million in 2010.
• The market, which is being led by Buffalo Technologies in terms of units shipped, also includes Apple, Cisco, D-Link, HP, Iomega, LaCie, Netgear, Seagate (Maxtor), Thecus, and WD.

This Market Alert is drawn from the In-Stat research, Worldwide Consumer Network-Attached Storage: Low Penetration, High Growth (#IN1104882RC, 41 pages, $3,495) , which covers the worldwide market for consumer network storage including:

• Market forecasts by capacity, price tier, and geographic area through 2015.
• Examination of market challenges and opportunities, as well as the home network ecosystem.
• Analysis of a consumer survey on home networks, connected devices, and usage.
• Major vendor market shares.
• Major vendor product and feature matrix.