Gartner: Worldwide External Controller-Based Disk Storage Market Grew 5% in 4th Quarter of 2013

Worldwide external controller-based (ECB) disk storage vendor revenue totaled $6.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, a five percent increase from revenue of $6.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Gartner, Inc.

"Following an abysmal third quarter, the fourth quarter of 2013 returned to growth. Driven by pent-up demand and the year-end budget flush phenomenon, the market overcame a fragile global economy and grew a strong five percent over the same period in 2012" said Roger Cox, research vice president at Gartner.

While Fujitsu and NetApp had year over year revenue gains, only two vendors - EMC and HP - beat the year-over-year market growth rate in the fourth quarter (see Table 1). Propelled by broad acceptance of the HP 3PAR StoreServ and the StoreOnce disk-based backup platforms, HP led all surveyed vendors in year-over-year revenue growth. Beyond its broad ECB disk storage portfolio, EMC benefited from the success of its VNX and Data Domain product refresh offerings. The increasing traction of NetApp's Clustered Data ONTAP operating system within its installed base, as well as an alternative to competing solutions, is enabling NetApp to achieve above-market results. Fujitsu continues to make gains in the EMEA region and has a strong showing in its home country, Japan.

Table 1
Worldwide ECB Disk Storage Vendor Revenue Estimates for 4Q13 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

Company
4Q13
Revenue
4Q13 Market Share (%)
4Q12
Revenue
4Q12 Market Share (%)
4Q13-4Q12
Change (%)
EMC
2,257.4
36.0
2,067.4
34.6
9.2
IBM
900.3
14.3
976.6
16.3
-7.8
NetApp2
658.1
10.5
637.3
10.7
3.3
HP
600.7
9.6
479.4
8.0
25.3
Hitachi/HDS1
549.1
8.8
576.9
9.7
-4.8
Dell
336.6
5.4
393.4
6.6
-14.4
Huawei
120.1
1.9
-
-
-
Fujitsu3
102.8
1.6
98.3
1.6
4.6
Oracle
60.0
1.0
69.7
1.2
-14.0
Others
689.1
11.0
674.6
11.3
2.1
Total
6,274.1
100.0
5,973.5
100.0
5.0


Dell, IBM and Oracle continue to underperform the market and lose share. Although the Dell Compellent offering is producing year-over-year revenue increases, these gains are insufficient to offset the decline in other members of its ECB disk storage portfolio. In addition, Dell may be suffering from organizational and structural issues associated with its leveraged buyout that are hampering sales. IBM's strategy of emphasizing its IP-based disk storage products is gaining traction but is not yet strong enough to offset declines in technology sourced from NetApp. Even though Oracle's ZFS Storage Appliance is a competitive offering from a technology perspective, Oracle's declining revenue results are due to inadequate market coverage. 
Table 2
Worldwide ECB Disk Storage Vendor Revenue Estimates for 2013 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

Company
2013 Revenue
2013 Market Share (%)
2012 Revenue
2012 Market Share (%)
2013-2012 Change (%)
EMC
7,723.2
34.3
7,448.7
33.5
3.7
IBM
2.853.5
12.7
2,963.9
13.3
-3.7
NetApp2
2,666.7
11.8
2,508.3
11.3
6.3
HP
2,081.3
9.2
1,962.5
8.8
6.1
Hitachi/HDS3
1,997.0
8.9
2,138.2
9.6
-6.6
Dell
1,474.2
6.5
1,609.8
7.2
-8.4
Fujitsu3
484.7
2.2
457.7
2.1
5.9
Huawei
340.2
1.5
-
-
-
Oracle
223.6
1.0
319.7
1.4
-30.1
Others
2,679.3
11.9
2,806.4
12.6
-4.5
Total
22,523.9
100.0
22,215.2
100.0
1.4

For the year, worldwide disk storage vendor revenue totaled $22.5 billion in 2013, a 1.4 percent increase from revenue of $22.2 billion in 2012 (see Table 2). This anemic year-over-year growth, the lowest since the decline in 2009, reflects the influence of muddled global macroeconomies, particularly in North America, Asia/Pacific and EMEA. The culmination of the infrastructure build-out after the 2011 tsunami with the weakness of the yen contributed to Japan being the only region to experience an absolute year-over-year decline in vendor revenue. Although pricing per terabyte continues to decline as expected, the average selling price (ASP) per unit increased 5.1 percent in 2013, signaling larger configurations.

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