EMC tightens grip on EMEA storage market in Q2

Vendor widens gap to almost double that of nearest rival HP

EMC continued to dominate the external disk storage (EDS) systems market in EMEA in 2013's second quarter, according to IDC.

The storage giant grabbed 28.1 per cent market share – way ahead of second-placed HP on 15.3 per cent – and raked in $497.1m (£314.4m) over the quarter, up three per cent annually.

Overall, the EDS market in EMEA remained nigh on flat, growing just half a per cent annually to $1.77bn

In western Europe, revenue shrank 6.4 per cent sequentially and 0.9 per cent annually to $1.29bn, but unit shipments rose to more than 44,000 as product sales shifted towards cheaper, entry-level products, claimed IDC.

The analyst added that conditions for the EDS market in EMEA remain challenging, in line with other mature markets, with only emerging regions demonstrating significant growth.

"In general, vendors' performance seemed to polarise towards the extremes, with either excellent or very disappointing results," said Silvia Cosso, IDC storage systems senior research analyst for western Europe.

HP trailed EMC in second place, with its market share shrinking by 0.2 percentage points to 15.3 per cent following a 3.9 per cent dip in sales to $270.8m. Fourth-placed IBM also posted declining sales, with revenue slumping 3.7 per cent annually to $251.5m, leaving it with 14.2 per cent market share.

On the flip side, third-placed vendor NetApp and fifth-placed Dell grew annually by 5.8 and 5.3 per cent respectively.

"NetApp managed to grow on the back of its success in both entry and high-end storage classes in Europe," IDC said. "Dell achieved its best performance in a year by competing successfully with its Compellent product line."