Disk storage systems market grows to $20.9 billion

Framingham (MA) - Worldwide disk storage systems factory revenues grew slightly in the fourth quarter of 2004 posting 1.8 percent growth over the same quarter one year ago to $5.8 billion, according to market research firm IDC. Year-over-year growth was 3.2 percent and resulted in revenues of $20.9 billion.

According to the data released, external disk storage systems factory held back the disk stoprage sector by climbing only slightly in the fourth quarter of 2004 and posting just 1 percent growth over Q4 2003 to $3.8 billion. Demand for disk storage systems capacity picked up considerably in the fourth quarter, IDC said with 57.7 percent year-over-year growth in external disk storage systems petaBytes. For the full year 2004, the external disk storage systems market posted 4.7 percent revenue growth over 2003 to $14.2 billion.

For the full year 2004, the total disk storage systems market posted 3.2 percent growth to $20.9 billion.

"The fourth quarter was the only quarter showing positive growth for internal disk storage systems during the year, largely due to strong server sales at the end of the year," said Brad Nisbet, program manager at IDC. "However, it is encouraging to see continued acceleration in the annual growth rate for external disk storage systems petaBytes, which grew 63% in 2004. With revenue accelerating, but at a slower pace, average pricing remains competitive during the ongoing influx of higher-capacity drives and applications."

In the total worldwide disk storage systems market, Hewlett-Packard (HP) maintained its lead in Q4 2004 with 24.2 percent revenue share followed by IBM with 22.5 percent share, according to IDC. EMC maintained the third position with 14.5 percent revenue share. Dell and EMC posted the largest year-over-year revenue growth among the top-five vendors during the quarter, with 15.8 percent and 13.4 percent points gained respectively.

For the entire year, HP maintained its leadership with 23.6 percent revenue share, followed by IBM and EMC with 20.6 percent and 14.3 percent revenue share, respectively.

EMC maintained its lead in the external disk storage systems market with 22.0 percent revenue share, followed by HP and IBM with 19.4 percent and 13.1 percent revenue share, respectively. Hitachi and Dell rounded out the top 5 with 8.2 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively. Among the top 5 suppliers, EMC and Dell posted the strongest year-over-year revenue growth during Q4 2004, with 15.2 percent and 13.4 percent growth, respectively.