Overland leads mid-range tape shipments

Tape back-up manufacturer Overland has become the leading vendor of mid-range tape automation products, shipping one quarter of all units in Europe, Middle East & Africa in the third quarter of 2000, according to IDC.

Tape back-up manufacturer Overland has become the leading vendor of mid-range tape automation products, shipping one quarter of all units in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) in the third quarter of 2000, according to IDC.

While rival ADIC is likely to retake pole position in the fourth quarter, when shipments were counted by original equipment manufacturer (OEM) origin as opposed to vendor, Overland achieved a 31 per cent market share for the third quarter.

Howard Rippiner, EMEA marketing manager at Overland, attributed the success to the vendor's mid-range strategy.

"Our smaller loaders have been particularly successful, because they are convenient and cost-effective for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and our strength in the SME market has really contributed to these shipment figures," he said.

Zarah Damji, senior research analyst at IDC, said Overland's recent signing of a continued seven-year OEM partnership with Compaq, and poor sales in the larger tape libraries market were also factors. "Overland is a great-looking company, and the firm's market share has continued to grow, partly due to the OEM agreement with Compaq," she said.

"Last year, library expenditure was down, particularly in larger tape libraries, which is really ADIC's end of the market. This has allowed Overland to overtake it in the shipment figures," she added.

Rippiner pointed out that the channel has also played an important role. "Our channel partners have done exceptionally well. I think the fact that they know we use only the channel, and have no direct sales force to steal orders from them, unlike our competitors, gives them greater confidence in us," he said.