Storage players forecast a positive start to 2009

Research reveals storage market is still growing as channel companies claim revenues remain healthy

Holding up: IDC figures confirmed a strong performance in the storage market in the second quarter of 2008

Following reports that pockets of the market are still enjoying healthy growth, channel players have asserted that the storage market is more resilient than most.

Earlier this year, IDC reported that global storage software revenue in the second quarter of 2008 grew 14.2 per cent year on year to $3.1bn (£2.1bn). The quarter was equally fruitful for external disk storage systems as revenue rose 16.7 per cent to $5.1bn.

James Ward, managing director of storage distributor Hammer, claimed his company was still growing.

“Storage products go from consumer through to corporate and it is still a growth sector. The consumer may spend less next year, so the retail market may find it tougher.”

Ward singled out iSCSI, solid state and virtualisation as growth segments. This is backed by a report from market intelligence specialist CompuBase, part of which read: “In spite of the economic picture, some niche markets such as security, virtualisation and storage continue to expand.”

The report also encouraged VARs to skill up in selling to small firms: “Data storage and security IT are a key interest for British SMEs. But as they have smaller budgets, their services and solutions are very specific.”

Jason Rabbetts, managing director of VAR Union Solutions, said: “Storage is in good shape. But people are still spending budget allocated last year; the real test will come at the start of the second quarter 2009.”