Worldwide Purpose-Built Backup Appliance (PBBA) Market Closes Out 2015 with Solid Growth, According to IDC

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Worldwide purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA) factory revenues grew 4.1% year over year totaling $1.05 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015 (4Q15), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Purpose-Built Backup Appliance Tracker. For the full year, factory revenue was up 2.5%, to $3.35 billion in 2015. Total PBBA open systems factory revenue increased 6.0% year over year in 4Q15 with revenues totaling $958.2 million while the mainframe market experienced a decline of -12.8% for the same period. Total worldwide PBBA capacity shipped for 4Q15 reached 1,160 petabytes, an increase of 25.6% year over year, while annual capacity was up 23.1% to 3.30 exabytes.

"Growth in the worldwide PBBA market remained strong in the fourth quarter, hitting the billion dollar mark for only the second time in any given quarter," said Liz Conner, Research Manager, Storage Systems. "Despite the continued commoditization of storage hardware, PBBA systems vendors are adapting, putting greater emphasis on backup and deduplication software, meeting recovery objectives, the ability to tier to the cloud, and increased ease of use. The results are a more flexible and agile product that is helping to meet a wider range of data protection needs."

Total Worldwide PBBA 4Q15 Results

EMC maintained its lead in the overall PBBA market with 67.7% revenue share in the fourth quarter, followed by Symantec with 12.0% share. IBM and HPE tied** for the third position with 4.0% and 3.9% market share, respectively. Dell moved into the number 5 PBBA vendor position with a 2.3% share of the worldwide market.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PBBA Factory Revenue, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Fourth Quarter of 2015 (Revenues in $ Millions)
Vendor	4Q15 Revenue	4Q15 Market Share	4Q14 Revenue	4Q14 Market Share	4Q15/4Q14 Growth
1. EMC	$707.9	67.7%	$639.9	63.7%	10.6%
2. Symantec*	$125.1	12.0%	$115.7	11.5%	8.1%
T3. IBM**	$41.6	4.0%	$67.2	6.7%	-38.1%
T3. HPE**	$40.7	3.9%	$40.0	4.0%	1.8%
5. Dell	$23.6	2.3%	$20.3	2.0%	16.5%
Others	$107.0	10.2%	$121.6	12.1%	-12.0%
Total	$1,046.0	100.0%	$1,004.7	100.0%	4.1%
Source: IDC Worldwide Purpose Built Backup Appliance Quarterly Tracker, March 23, 2016

Notes:
* Symantec includes the Veritas business.
** IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide purpose-built backup appliance market when there is less than one percent difference in the revenue share of two or more vendors.

In addition to the table above, an interactive graphic showing the worldwide market share of the top 5 PBBA vendors over the previous five quarters is available here. The chart is intended for public use in online news articles and social media. Instructions on how to embed this graphic can be found by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

Total Worldwide PBBA 2015 Results

EMC maintained its lead in the overall PBBA market with 61.4% revenue share in 2015, followed by Symantec with 14.3% share. IBM and HPE tied** for the third position with 5.0% and 4.5% market share, respectively. Barracuda moved into the number 5 PBBA vendor position with a 2.6% share of the worldwide market.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PBBA Factory Revenue, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, 2015 (Revenues in $ Millions)
Vendor	2015 Revenue	2015 Market Share	2014 Revenue	2014 Market Share	2015/2014 Growth
1. EMC	$2,054.1	61.4%	$2,030.2	62.2%	1.2%
2. Symantec*	$479.0	14.3%	$417.5	12.8%	14.7%
T3. IBM**	$165.7	5.0%	$205.9	6.3%	-19.5%
T3. HPE**	$150.3	4.5%	$134.5	4.1%	11.7%
5. Barracuda	$88.1	2.6%	$66.5	2.0%	32.6%
Others	$409.0	12.2%	$409.1	12.5%	0.0%
Total	$3,346.3	100.0%	$3,263.7	100.0%	2.5%
Source: IDC Worldwide Purpose Built Backup Appliance Quarterly Tracker, March 19, 2015

Notes:
* Symantec includes the Veritas business.
** IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide purpose-built backup appliance market when there is less than one percent difference in the revenue share of two or more vendors.

Taxonomy Notes:

IDC defines a purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA) as a standalone disk-based solution that utilizes software, disk arrays, server engine(s), or nodes that are used for a target for backup data and specifically data coming from a backup application (e.g., NetWorker, NetBackup, TSM, and Backup Exec) or can be tightly integrated with the backup software to catalog, index, schedule, and perform data movement. The PBBA products are deployed in standalone configurations or as gateways. PBBA solutions deployed in a gateway configuration connect to and store backup data on general-purpose storage. Here, the gateway device is serving as the component that is purpose built solely for backup and not for supporting any other workload or application. Regardless of packaging (as an appliance or gateway), PBBAs can have multiple interfaces or protocols. Also, PBBAs often can provide and receive replication to or from remote sites and a secondary PBBA for the purpose of disaster recovery (DR).

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Purpose Built Backup Appliance Tracker provides vendor share, market size, and forecasts for purpose-built backup appliances. IDC provides key market insights and growth for vendors participating in the PBBA market as well as those that may introduce new products. Revenue and capacity for disk systems behind PBBA gateways is included in the PBBA market sizing and also in the forecast. Some PBBA solutions integrate the data movement engine (backup application) with the appliance, while others serve as only a target for incoming backup application data. Both solutions are included in the PBBA market sizing, although segmentation between the two product categories is provided.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide PBBA Quarterly Tracker, please contact Hoang Nguyen at or [e-mail].

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