Growth for disc storage market in Q3

EMC leads the way, taking 30 per cent market share, while HP's revenue and market share slump

The worldwide external disc storage systems market has grown 3.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, according to new figures from IDC, which show that Q3 revenue for the market hit $5.9bn (£3.7bn).

EMC maintained its lead, with its share of the market growing to 30 per cent in Q3 and revenue jumping by 8.7 per cent to £1.8bn.

NetApp saw sales rise 0.9 per cent to $706m, and held the second-highest market share at 11.9 per cent, narrowly beating IBM, whose share slumped by five per cent to 11.7 per cent.

Hitachi and HP both hit the $575m revenue mark in Q3, with Hitachi's sales growing by 13.8 per cent to reach the figure, while HP's slid by 11 per cent to hit the same sales mark. The two firms also found themselves in a statistical tie-breaker in market share, taking 9.7 per cent each. Hitachi's market share grew 0.9 per cent year on year, while HP's dropped 1.5 per cent over the same period.

Liz Conner, senior research analyst at IDC, put the overall market growth partly down to higher demand in mid-range and high-end storage.

She said: "End users continue to invest in storage infrastructures despite persistent concerns surrounding global and regional economies. Helping to drive the worldwide market in the third quarter was the double-digit growth in multi-protocol storage architecture and strong demand for upper mid-range and high-end storage."