ECB disk storage revenue in Asia up 26 per cent in Q1 2005: Gartner

Mumbai: External controller-based (ECB) disk storage revenue in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) totaled $373.5 million in first quarter 2005, an impressive 28.6 per cent increase over the same period of 2004, according to Gartner, Inc.

The top three vendors - Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM and EMC posted double digit increases in the first quarter of 2005. Although HP's revenue share declined more than one point, the vendor remained in firm control of its market leadership position cornering 24.8 per cent share in 1Q 2005. The EVA and the MSA series together accounted for a major portion of the numbers accounting for more than 65 per cent of the market leader's total numbers.

IBM with 18.5 per cent share of total revenues in the Asia Pacific region not only registered the fastest growth among the top three players but also overtook EMC to take the number 2 position within the ECB storage market. The vendor's revenues grew near 48 per cent on a year on year basis to total $ 69.2 million. The newly launched DS 8000 and DS 6000 series, helped reverse some of the declines experienced during the second half of 2004 as a result of product transition issues.

Dell was the fastest growing storage vendor in the region and grew almost 93 per cent over Q1 2004, albeit, from a relatively smaller base. Dell's storage growth also resulted in its separate reporting in its quarterly earnings report for the first time. True to its execution heritage, Dell has steadily enhanced its credibility as a provider of midrange enterprise-class ECB disk storage attached to a storage area network (SAN). Dell's high value CX series accounted for a major portion of the business and accounted for nearly 63 per cent of its revenues in the Asia Pacific region.

Much like Dell, Network appliance also continued to expand its presence in the region and posted another quarter of significant gains compared to a year earlier. Growing more than 56% in Q1 2005, the vendor totaled $14.4 million for 3.8 per cent share of overall Asia Pacific revenues. "NetApp's success can be attributed to its single management platform, simple product lines and effective execution on unified storage serving various applications," said Aman Munglani, Principle Analyst in the storage research group at Gartner.

EMC's presence in the banking and telecom segments continued to pay rich dividends for this vendor and helped maintain market share on a year on year basis. The vendor gained 31 per cent on a year on year basis to exceed market average in performance. The symmetrix and the NAS gateway product categories, continued to account for a major portion of business for this vendor.

Led by impressive year-over-year gains in the midrange ECB disk storage market (exclusive of EMC's OEM relationships), EMC is increasingly leveraging its rich storage related software portfolio, strong professional services capabilities and growing channel presence to penetrate the lucrative midsize business market.

Sun continues to struggle in the highly competitive ECB disk storage market. Sales of the high-end SE9000 (sourced from Hitachi/HDS) continue to decline. Sun's midrange ECB disk products are producing spotty results and the much-touted SE6920 is yet to grain noticeable market traction.

HDS was the only company that saw a decline in revenues on a year on year basis in the Asia Pacific region. Outside of Japan, Hitachi/HDS count on its high-end ECB disk storage products (Lightning and TagmaStore) to produce the majority of its branded revenue. (The above table excludes OEM revenue from HP and Sun.) Hitachi/HDS needs to elevate its presence in the faster growing midrange ECB disk market in order to stop market share erosion.