History 2001: EMC Extends Lead in WW Storage Software Market

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As storage hardware vendors look to software vendors to gain a competitive advantage, storage software vendors are reaping the benefits.

WW storage software revenue reached $5.3 billion in 2000, a 28% increase over 1999, according to Gartner Dataquest research brief EMC and Veritas lead storage software market.

EMC widened its market leadership in 2000 to a healthy 9.2 points ahead of its closest rival which is now Veritas that moved from ≠4 in 1999 to the ≠2 spot with 69% growth from 1999 to 2000.

"The top 10, which account for 87% of the market, is now split evenly between software-only vendors and vendors who also sell storage hardware," said Carolyn DiCenzo, chief analyst for Gartner Dataquest's storage group. "NetApp and Compaq moved into the leadership circle for the first time with strong sales in value added software for their storage system customers."

Storage hardware vendors increasingly are looking for software to provide the competitive edge and are increasing their software portfolios. Partnerships have worked well in the past, but if a hardware competitor has the same software partner, then the edge is not there. The analysts said this is why more storage vendors are looking to provide unique software, and they expect this trend to continue.

"Vendors playing in the same space as the top-tier vendors will need to have geography, industry or application focus along with dedicated channel partners," DiCenzo said. "It will be increasingly difficult to compete vs. the large sales and service organizations of the top-tier players, and small vendors should seriously look at acquisition offers before the bigger vendors acquire similar technology elsewhere."

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 161 on June 2001 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.