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Flash market skyrockets as big boys get in on the action

Market value reached $11.3bn in 2014

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The flash market is no longer being driven purely by aggressive startups, according to IDC, which has pointed to a flurry of storage giants that have cottoned on and helped propel the market to new heights.

In 2014, the global flash-based array market grew to $11.3bn (£7.43bn) – $10bn from the hybrid-flash array (HFA) market and the rest coming from all-flash arrays (AFAs).

Throughout 2013, startup flash firms such as Pure Storage and X-IO poured scorn on their much larger rivals such as EMC and accused them of being too slow off the mark on flash technology. But last year the big boys fought back, with EMC boldly offering customers a $1m guarantee that its XtremIO flash product was the best.

IDC said the promise of flash has meant the market is much more crowded.

"The impact that flash-based arrays will have on the datacentre is undeniable as more flash-based platforms are delivering enterprise-class data services," it said.

"Once dominated by storage startups looking to carve out a niche with flash-optimised solutions, the promise of flash in the datacentre is driving traditional enterprise storage vendors, such as Dell, EMC, HDS, HP, IBM, NetApp and Oracle, to all get on board and offer flash-optimised HFAs, and in some cases AFAs."

Pure Storage, Nimble Storage and SolidFire were labelled as the stand-out startups by IDC, which added that any vendor in the space must ensure customers have a smooth transition from traditional tech to flash.

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