In Kenyan Storage Market, Dell EMC Leader With 46.8% Share – IDC

The East Africa enterprise infrastructure hardware market (comprising Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda) experienced a slight Y/Y decline of 4.5% in 1H17, according to International Data Corporation.

The global technology research and consulting firm’s latest Quarterly Server and Disk Storage Systems Tracker shows the market totaled $37.39 million in 1H17.

The region’s biggest market, Kenya, closed 1H17 down 9.9% Y/Y at $23.47 million, with the education and small business segments experiencing the biggest slumps. Servers accounted for $12.17 million of this total in 1H17, down 13.7% Y/Y, while storage revenues declined 5.5% over the same period to total $11.30 million.

“The declines in Kenya’s enterprise infrastructure hardware market were primarily caused by various inhibitors linked to the country’s challenging economic environment,” says Kirui Andrew, a research analyst for systems and infrastructure solutions, IDC East Africa. “This situation was compounded by anxiety leading up to the general elections that were hosted in August, as well as by difficulties in accessing credit due to monetary policy changes that negatively impacted small businesses.“

Despite the emergence of political unrest towards the end of 2016, Ethiopia’s x86 server market grew an impressive 50.4% Y/Y in 1H17 to total $8.33 million, propelled by the continuation of double-digit annual economic growth in the country.

Austerity measures saw the Tanzanian x86 server market shrink 28.8% Y/Y to $2.75 million in 1H17, while the Ugandan x86 server market declined 22.0% to $2.53 million due to adverse drought effects, a slow recovery from election-related uncertainty, and turmoil in the banking sector that restricted access to credit.

Huawei was the overall leader of the East Africa server hardware market in 1H17 with 27.2% share. Inspur overtook HPE into second place, accounting for 22.8% of the market’s value courtesy of its strong performance in the government-to-government space. HPE slipped to third with 18.7% share, down from 29.1% in 1H16. Dell EMC remained in fourth place with 9.8% share, while Lenovo rounded out the top five vendors at 6.5%.

In the Kenyan storage market, Dell EMC consolidated its position as leader with 46.8% share following the merger of Dell and EMC towards the end of 2016. This has given Dell EMC a competitive advantage due to its ability to sell storage products across all price brands – low-end, mid-range, and high-end. Huawei ranked second in the Kenyan storage market for 1H17 with 14.4% share.

“Looking ahead, IDC expects the East African enterprise infrastructure hardware market to decline 7.0% Y/Y in 2H17,” says Andrew. “The uncertain political situation will lead some of the region’s governments to delay funding for key projects, while rising inflation rates will also inhibit the market’s performance in 2H17. That said: IDC anticipates a full market recovery to begin from early 2018.”