Worldwide Enterprise Storage Market Sees Continued Decline in First Quarter, According to IDC

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--()--Total worldwide enterprise storage systems factory revenue declined 7.0% year over year to $8.2 billion during the first quarter of 2016 (1Q16), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker. Total capacity shipments were down 4.0% year over year to 27.8 exabytes during the quarter. Revenue growth declined within the group of original design manufacturers (ODMs) that sell directly to hyperscale datacenters. This portion of the market was down 39.9% year over year to $681 million. Sales of server-based storage were up 2.0% during the quarter and accounted for $2.1 billion in revenue. External storage systems remained the largest market segment, but the $5.4 billion in sales represented a 3.7% year-over-year decline.

"On the heels of a busy end-of-year spending cycle, the enterprise storage system market reverted to a familiar trend," said Liz Conner, research manager, Storage Systems. "Spending on server-based storage was up, spending on traditional external arrays continues to decline, while the nature of hyperscale business leads it to fluctuate heavily with that market segment seeing a heavy decline in 1Q16."

1Q16 Total Enterprise Storage Systems Market Results

HPE and EMC finished in a statistical tie* for the top position within the total worldwide enterprise storage systems market, accounting for 17.3% and 16.4% of spending respectively. Dell held the next position with a 10.3% share of revenue during the quarter. NetApp accounted for 7.9% of global spending. As a single group, storage systems sales by original design manufacturers (ODMs) selling directly to hyperscale data center customers accounted for 8.3% of global spending during the quarter.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Total Enterprise Storage Systems Market, First Quarter of 2016 (Revenues are in US$ millions)
Vendor      

1Q16
Revenue

 

1Q16 Market
Share

 

1Q15
Revenue

 

1Q15 Market
Share

 

1Q16/1Q15
Revenue
Growth

 
T1. HPE*       $1,420.3       17.3%       $1,279.5       14.5%       11.0%      
T1. EMC*       $1,349.4       16.4%       $1,530.4       17.3%       -11.8%      
3. Dell       $845.5       10.3%       $897.7       10.2%       -5.8%      
4. NetApp       $645.5       7.9%       $764.9       8.7%       -15.6%      
T5. Hitachi*       $513.9       6.3%       $522.1       5.9%       -1.6%      
T5. IBM*+       $475.7       5.8%       $536.8       6.1%       -11.4%      
ODM Direct       $680.5       8.3%       $1,131.5       12.8%       -39.9%      
Others       $2,280.4       27.8%       $2,164.9       24.5%       5.3%      
All Vendors       $8,211.3       100.0%       $8,827.9       100.0%       -7.0%      
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, June 3, 2016      

Notes:

* IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide enterprise storage systems market when there is less than one percent difference in the revenue share of two or more vendors.

+ IBM's 1Q16 revenue excludes x86 servers due to the sale of that business to Lenovo.

In addition to the table above, an interactive graphic showing the worldwide market share of the top 5 total enterprise storage systems vendors plus ODM Direct sales over the previous five quarters is available here. Instructions on how to embed this graphic into online news articles and social media can be found by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

1Q16 External Enterprise Storage Systems Results

EMC was the largest external enterprise storage systems supplier during the quarter, accounting for 24.9% of worldwide revenues. NetApp finished in the number 2 position with 11.9% share. HPE and Hitachi finished the quarter in a statistical tie* for the number 3 position with 9.9% and 9.2% share of worldwide revenues, respectively. IBM and Dell rounded out the top 5 in a statistical tie* with a 7.9% and 6.9% share, respectively, of worldwide external enterprise storage revenue during the quarter.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide External Enterprise Storage Systems Market, First Quarter of 2016 (Revenues are in Millions)      
Vendor      

1Q16
Revenue

 

1Q16 Market
Share

 

1Q15
Revenue

 

1Q15 Market
Share

 

1Q16/1Q15
Revenue
Growth

 
1. EMC       $1,349.4       24.9%       $1,530.4       27.2%       -11.8%      
2. NetApp       $645.5       11.9%       $764.9       13.6%       -15.6%      
T3. HPE*       $535.7       9.9%       $512.1       9.1%       4.6%      
T3. Hitachi*       $497.1       9.2%       $506.9       9.0%       -2.0%      
T5. IBM*       $429.0       7.9%       $446.2       7.9%       -3.8%      
T5. Dell*       $376.2       6.9%       $395.1       7.0%       -4.8%      
Others       $1,590.6       29.3%       $1,475.8       26.2%       7.8%      
All Vendors       $5,423.6       100.0%       $5,631.4       100.0%       -3.7%      
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, June 3, 2016      

Note:

* IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide enterprise storage systems market when there is less than one percent difference in the revenue share of two or more vendors.

Flash-Based Storage Systems Highlights

The total All Flash Array (AFA) market generated $794.8 million in revenue during the quarter, up 87.4% year over year. The Hybrid Flash Array (HFA) segment of the market continues to be a significant part of the overall market with $2.2 billion in revenue and 26.5% market share.

Taxonomy Notes

IDC defines a Disk Storage System as a set of storage elements, including controllers, cables, and (in some instances) host bus adapters, associated with three or more disks. A system may be located outside of or within a server cabinet and the average cost of the disk storage systems does not include infrastructure storage hardware (i.e. switches) and non-bundled storage software.

The information in this quantitative study is based on a branded view of the disk storage systems sale. Revenue associated with the products to the end user is attributed to the seller (brand) of the product, not the manufacturer. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sales are not included in this study. In this study, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) sales do not reflect their OEM sales to Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

IDC's Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker is a quantitative tool for analyzing the global disk storage market on a quarterly basis. The Tracker includes quarterly shipments and revenues (both customer and factory), Terabytes, $/Gigabyte, Gigabyte/Unit, and Average Selling Value. Each criteria can be segmented by location, installation base, operating system, vendor, family, model, and region.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, please contact Lidice Fernandez at 305-351-3051 or lfernandez@idc.com.

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.

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Contacts

IDC
Eric Sheppard, 508-988-7925
esheppard@idc.com
or
Michael Shirer, 508-935-4200
press@idc.com

Release Summary

Total worldwide enterprise storage systems factory revenue declined 7.0% year over year to $8.2 billion during Q1 2016, according to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker.

Contacts

IDC
Eric Sheppard, 508-988-7925
esheppard@idc.com
or
Michael Shirer, 508-935-4200
press@idc.com