IT researcher IDC announced Dec. 21 that
it has crowned U.K.-based Xyratex as the world's champion supplier of disk
storage systems to original equipment manufacturers.
The statistics that support this announcement, however, are somewhat dated; the
IDC supplier ranking is based on 2009
revenue. It also reports that Xyratex accomplished this while increasing its
market share from 25 percent to nearly 30 percent in that single year.
Xyratex also was the top disk storage system supplier in 2008, IDC
said.
Xyratex makes high-capacity, high-speed data storage subsystems that support a
range of communication technologies and performance specifications. These
include RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) and SBOD (Switched Bunch of
Disks).
The company also builds storage infrastructure, such as automated HDD test
solutions, servo track writing technology and precision cleaning systems for
high-volume manufacturing environments.
In its review of the worldwide disk storage market, IDC
analyzed the market share data of the top 32 disk storage system vendors as
well as major storage system OEM suppliers, said Natalya Yezhkova, research director
of Storage Systems at IDC.
In the assessment of OEM revenues for those 32 suppliers, Xyratex ranked first with
29.8 percent of the OEM disk storage systems market. Xyratex supplied four of
the top five storage systems vendors in 2009, shipping more than 1.5 exabytes
of storage through its customer base.
The top five disk storage vendors, according to quarterly IDC
and Gartner market reports, are EMC, IBM,
NetApp, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, in that order.
"Xyratex's business model and commitment to its customers provide a
compelling solution to OEM suppliers. OEMs are able to focus on their core
competencies while relying on Xyratex's expertise in delivering hardware
platform for their storage solutions," Yezhkova said.
"Storage capacity is forecast to grow at 50 percent through 2014, driven
by demand for enterprise storage systems. This demand will create steady
opportunity for Xyratex to grow its business with OEM customers and to increase
its footprint in the industry."
You say you've never heard of Xyratex? This is not surprising because the
Havant, England-based company does not market a branded product.
Xyratex has more than 25 years of experience in research and development
relating to disk drives, storage systems and high-speed communication
protocols.
The company was launched in 1994 in a management buyout from IBM.
Xyratex, whose U.S.
headquarters is in Fremont, Calif.,
has an established a global base with R&D and operational facilities in Europe,
the United States
and Southeast Asia.
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