Worldwide Enterprise Storage Market Holds Steady in Second Quarter, According to IDC

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Total worldwide enterprise storage systems factory revenue remained flat year over year, posting 0.0% growth and $8.8 billion during the second quarter of 2016 (2Q16), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker. Total capacity shipments were up 12.9% year over year to 34.7 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 21.5% year over year to $794.7 million. Sales of server-based storage were up 9.8% during the quarter and accounted for almost $2.4 billion in revenue. External storage systems remained the largest market segment, but the $5.7 billion in sales represented flat 0.0% year-over-year growth.

"After a slow start to the year, the enterprise storage system market remained steady during the second quarter," said Liz Conner, research manager, Storage Systems. "Spending on all flash deployments continues to grow and help drive the market. The decreasing cost of flash media, coupled with increasing use cases, high density deployments, and availability of flash-based storage products, have resulted in rapid adoption throughout the market."

2Q16 Total Enterprise Storage Systems Market Results

EMC and HPE remained in a statistical tie* for the top position within the total worldwide enterprise storage systems market, accounting for 18.1% and 17.6% of spending respectively. HPE's year-over-year growth rate as reported by IDC was impacted by the start of the H3C partnership in China that began in May of 2016; as a result, a portion of HPE-designed storage systems were rebranded for the China market and do not count in HPE's market data from that point forward. Dell held the next position with a 11.5% share of revenue during the quarter. IBM and NetApp accounted for 6.8% and 6.7% of global spending respectively. As a single group, storage systems sales by original design manufacturers (ODMs) selling directly to hyperscale data center customers accounted for 9.0% of global spending during the quarter.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Total Enterprise Storage Systems Market, Second Quarter of 2016 (Revenues are in US$ millions)
Vendor	2Q16 Revenue	2Q16 Market Share	2Q15 Revenue	2Q15 Market Share	2Q16/2Q15 Revenue Growth
T1. EMC*	$1,599.7	18.1%	$1,693.0	19.2%	-5.5%
T1. HPE*^	$1,556.7	17.6%	$1,431.3	16.2%	8.8%
3. Dell	$1,011.8	11.5%	$888.9	10.1%	13.8%
T4. IBM*^+	$601.3	6.8%	$712.2	8.1%	-15.6%
T4. NetApp*	$595.4	6.7%	$615.4	7.0%	-3.2%
ODM Direct	$794.7	9.0%	$1,011.8	11.5%	-21.5%
Others	$2,676.4	30.3%	$2,1479.6	27.9%	7.9%
All Vendors	$8,828.7	100.0%	$8,832.1	100.0%	0.0%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, September 16, 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.
^ HPE's 2Q16 revenue as reported by IDC excludes the H3C business being rebranded in China.
⁺ IBM's 2Q16 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.

2Q16 External Enterprise Storage Systems Results

EMC was the largest external enterprise storage systems supplier during the quarter, accounting for 28.2% of worldwide revenues. HPE and NetApp finished in a statistical tie* for the number 2 position, each with 10.6% and 10.5% of market share. IBM finished the quarter in the number 4 position with 9.5% share of worldwide revenues. Hitachi and Dell rounded out the top 5 in a statistical tie* with a 7.4% and 7.0% share, respectively, of worldwide external enterprise storage revenue during the quarter.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide External Enterprise Storage Systems Market, Second Quarter of 2016 (Revenues are in Millions)
Vendor	2Q16 Revenue	2Q16 Market Share	2Q15 Revenue	2Q15 Market Share	2Q16/2Q15 Revenue Growth
1. EMC	$1,599.7	28.2%	$1,693.0	29.9%	-5.5%
T2. HPE*^	$602.2	10.6%	$597.2	10.5%	0.8%
T2. NetApp*	$595.4	10.5%	$615.4	10.9%	-3.2%
4. IBM	$538.0	9.5%	$630.6	11.1%	-14.7%
T5. Hitachi*	$419.0	7.4%	$365.9	6.5%	14.7%
T5. Dell*	$394.9	7.0%	$373.3	6.6%	5.8%
Others	$1,527.1	26.9%	$1,390.9	24.5%	9.8%
All Vendors	$5,669.0	100.0%	$5,666.2	100.0%	0.0%
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.
^ HPE's 2Q16 revenue as reported by IDC excludes the H3C business being rebranded in China.

Flash-Based Storage Systems Highlights

The total All Flash Array (AFA) market generated almost $1.1 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 94.5% year over year. The Hybrid Flash Array (HFA) segment of the market continues to be a significant part of the overall market with $2.3 billion in revenue and 26.1% 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 [e-mail].

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 wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.

All product and company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.