Storage software market slows

Europe blamed as market inched up just 0.9 per cent in Q2, according to IDC figures

The worldwide market for storage software grew by just 0.9 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2012, according to new figures from IDC.

The market, which is now worth $3.36bn (£2.1bn), grew at a reduced rate for the second quarter in a row, according to the analyst's Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software QView report.

Storage giant EMC remained at the top of the market food chain, taking 26 per cent market share, as well as experiencing the largest organic growth rate of 22 per cent.

IBM and Symantec took 14.7 per cent and 14.6 per cent market share respectively, while CommVault experienced the second-highest organic growth rate of 7.4 per cent.

Eric Sheppard, research director for storage software at IDC, claimed economic problems in Europe have affected the market.

"Most functional markets showed increased investments, but the increases were far smaller than the market had been experiencing over the past two years," he said.

"These generally lower results can be partially attributed to suppressed economic growth in Europe, reduced government [and] education investments, and transitions specific to a few large suppliers."

The fastest-growing market segment was data protection and archiving software, totalling revenue of $1.16bn and $404m respectively as they both enjoyed just over two per cent growth.