Worldwide Enterprise Storage Market Grew 13.7% in the Fourth Quarter, According to IDC

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Total worldwide enterprise storage systems factory revenue was up 13.7% year over year to just under $13.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 (4Q17), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker. Total capacity shipments were up 39.3% year over year to 89.2 exabytes during the quarter. Revenue growth increased within the group of original design manufacturers (ODMs) that sell directly to hyperscale datacenters. This portion of the market increased 34.3% year over year to just under $2.8 billion. Sales of server-based storage increased 23.8% during the quarter and accounted for $4.2 billion in revenue. External storage systems remained the largest market segment, with the $6.6 billion in sales representing an increase of 1.8% year over year.

"Investments on enterprise storage systems are increasing at a very healthy pace," said Eric Sheppard, research vice president with IDC's Enterprise Infrastructure team. "Infrastructure refresh, a broad market shift towards server-based storage, and rapid expansion within public cloud datacenters are combining to creating strong demand for enterprise storage systems."

4Q17 Total Enterprise Storage Systems Market Results, by Company
HPE/New H3C Group and Dell Inc. were statistically tied* for the number 1 position of the total worldwide enterprise storage systems market, accounting for 18.9% and 18.0% of spending, respectively. IBM and NetApp finished tied for third with 5.5% and 5.4% market share, respectively. Huawei and Hitachi were tied for the number 5 position. Huawei achieved 3.8% market share and Hitachi achieved 3.3% market share. As a single group, storage systems sales by original design manufacturers (ODMs) selling directly to hyperscale datacenter customers accounted for 20.4% of global spending during the quarter.

Top 5 Vendor Groups, Worldwide Total Enterprise Storage Systems Market, Fourth Quarter of 2017 (Revenues are in US$ millions)
Company	4Q17 Revenue	4Q17 Market Share	4Q16 Revenue	4Q16 Market Share	4Q17/4Q16 Revenue Growth
T1. HPE/New H3C Group*^b c	$2,565.3	18.9%	$2,492.3	20.9%	2.9%
T1. Dell Inc.* ^a	$2,434.7	18.0%	$2,749.0	23.1%	-11.4%
T3. IBM*	$744.6	5.5%	$685.6	5.8%	8.6%
T3. NetApp*	$735.3	5.4%	$642.0	5.4%	14.5%
T5. Huawei*	$517.7	3.8%	$401.8	3.4%	28.9%
T5. Hitachi*	$453.1	3.3%	$462.8	3.9%	-2.1%
ODM Direct	$2,764.3	20.4%	$2,058.9	17.3%	34.3%
Others	$3,341.2	24.6%	$2,429.7	20.4%	37.5%
All Vendors	$13,556.1	100.0%	$11,922.2	100.0%	13.7%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, March 1, 2018

Notes:
* – IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide enterprise storage systems market when there is a difference of one percent or less in the share of revenues or shipments among two or more vendors.
^a – Dell Inc. represents the combined revenues for Dell and EMC.
^b – Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and the New H3C Group, IDC will be reporting market share on a global level for HPE as "HPE/New H3C Group" starting from 2Q 2016 and going forward.
^c – HPE/New H3C Group includes the acquisition of Nimble, completed in April 2017.

4Q17 External Enterprise Storage Systems Results, by Company
Dell Inc. was the largest external enterprise storage systems supplier during the quarter, accounting for 26.6% of worldwide revenues. HPE/New H3C Group finished in the number 2 position with 12.24% share during the quarter. NetApp and IBM were tied at third place with 11.2% and 10.9% market shares respectively. Hitachi rounded out the top 5 with 6.8% market share.

Top 5 Vendors Groups, Worldwide External Enterprise Storage Systems Market, Fourth Quarter of 2017 (Revenues are in Millions)
Company	4Q17 Revenue	4Q17 Market Share	4Q16 Revenue	4Q16 Market Share	4Q17/4Q16 Revenue Growth
1. Dell Inc. ^a	$1,745.9	26.6%	$2,124.9	32.9%	-17.8%
2. HPE/New H3C Group^b c	$803.4	12.24%	$749.1	11.6%	7.3%
T3. NetApp^*	$735.3	11.20%	$642.0	10.0%	14.5%
T3. IBM^*	$715.7	10.9%	$653.8	10.1%	9.5%
5. Hitachi	$445.1	6.8%	$451.6	7.0%	-1.4%
Others	$2,121.1	32.3%	$1,827.44	28.3%	16.1%
All Vendors	$6,566.5	100.0%	$6,489.0	100.0%	1.8%
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker, March 1, 2018

Notes:
* – IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide enterprise storage systems market when there is a difference of one percent or less in the share of revenues or shipments among two or more vendors.
^a – Dell Inc represents the combined revenues for Dell and EMC.
^b – Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and the New H3C Group, IDC will be reporting external market share on a global level for HPE as "HPE/New H3C Group" starting from 2Q 2016 and going forward.
^c – HPE/New H3C Group includes the acquisition of Nimble, completed in April 2017.

In addition to the table above, a graphic illustrating worldwide market share (based on revenues) for the top 5 external enterprise storage systems companies over the previous five quarter is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

Flash-Based Storage Systems Highlights
The total All Flash Array (AFA) market generated just over $1.9 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 15.1% year over year. The Hybrid Flash Array (HFA) segment of the market continues to be a significant part of the overall market with $2.7 billion in revenue, up 7.4% from the same quarter last year.

Taxonomy Notes
IDC defines an Enterprise 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 enterprise 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.

IDC's Worldwide Enterprise 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, company, family, model, and region.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide Enterprise 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 that activates and engages the most influential technology buyers. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn.

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