Storage software revenue
reached nearly $3.5 billion in the third quarter of 2011, a 9.7 percent
increase over the same quarter in 2010, according to a report from IDC. This
makes 3Q11 the second-largest revenue-generating quarter in the nine years that
IDC has been tracking the market. Over the past nine years, only the first
quarter of 2011 has generated more revenue than during 3Q11, according to IDC's
"Worldwide Storage Software QView."
Six of the seven functional
markets covered within the Worldwide Storage Software Qview experienced
year-over-year revenue growth, and four markets grew at double-digit rates
during the quarter. Archiving software and storage as well as device management
software experienced the strongest increase in demand, with 12.2 percent and
11.3 percent year-over-year growth, respectively. Data protection and recovery
software accounted for 34.9 percent of total revenue in 3Q11 and was once again
the largest contributor to incremental revenue compared with 3Q10.
EMC, Symantec and IBM were
the top-ranking storage software suppliers, with market shares of 24.5 percent,
15.3 percent and 14 percent, respectively. All suppliers covered within the
Qview experienced year-over-year growth in storage software revenue. HP
experienced the largest year-over-year increase—38.2 percent—during the quarter,
primarily due to the company's acquisition of 3PAR. NetApp placed fourth, with
a 3Q11 market share of 8.8 percent, followed by Hitachi, with 4.1 percent share.
"Demand for storage
software products remains near all-time highs," said Eric Sheppard,
research director with IDC's storage software program. "The market has
broadly exited the recent phase of product refresh, yet sales continue to
increase at impressive rates as users and suppliers come together to help
improve the way organizations utilize, manage and protect their valuable
corporate data and storage resources."
According to recent cloud
usage research conducted by Drobo, 96 percent of small and midsize businesses (with
up to 500 employees) report they will store at least 50 percent of their data
on-site for a minimum of the next three years. Factors cited included cloud
performance, security and reliability concerns. Both businesses and individuals
did state they want tighter and more automated integration between their
on-site data and their cloud provider.
The report also noted that while
there is big buzz around "big data," the fact is that big data is
relevant to only the largest of companies and data hoarders. "It's the one
person, family or business having to navigate the protection and management of
their own data that affects the largest group of people—100 million individuals
and small businesses nationwide alone," the report noted. "The numbers
are too big to ignore; while big data will continue as a top issue in 2012,
it's the 'small data' opportunity that will explode."
Data Storage News & Reviews 
