HP and Oracle lose out as storage market grows

Gartner names EMC, NetApp and Fujitsu as top performers in Q3 2010

HP and Oracle lost ground in a external controller-based (ECB) disk storage market that grew a solid 16 per cent in the third quarter.

According to figures released by analyst Gartner, ECB disk storage market revenues topped $4.6bn (£2.9bn) during Q3, up from $4bn in the same quarter in 2009.

However, sequentially, worldwide revenues for the technology remained flat at $4.6bn for both the second and third quarter of 2010.

The market watcher hailed the Q3 performance of EMC, Fujitsu and NetApp. All three firms posted revenue growth figures that exceeded the market and gained share during the quarter.

HP and Oracle fared less well during Q3, with both losing market share to their rivals.

Gartner attributed HP's 1.1 per cent slide in share to its "anaemic position in the fast-growing NAS segment" and the ongoing year-over-year revenue declines blighting its Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) product line.

The cause of Oracle's 1.7 per cent loss in market share, Gartner claims, was its decision to sever its OEM partnership with Hitachi Data Systems earlier this year.

In most geographic regions double-digit, year-over-year revenue growth was reported. Latin America and Asia Pacific led the way with revenues up 43.4 and 22.2 per cent, respectively. In North America revenues grew 17.2 per cent and 18 per cent in Japan.

The only territory not to achieve double-digit growth was EMEA, a fact Gartner put down to the continuing economic uncertainty in the region.

Roger Cox, research vice president at Gartner, said the figures prove that demand for ECB disk products is still strong.

He said: "In spite of an erratic global economy, and even though IT budgets remain tight, IT executives continue to invest in ECB disk storage to support projects that yield economic efficiencies."