FRAMINGHAM, USA: The worldwide solid state drive (SSD) market is for real and generated nearly $400 million in revenues in 2007. SSD revenue will increase at a 70 percent CAGR from 2007–2012 and unit shipments at a slightly faster rate of 76 percent, IDC predicts.

Traditional markets, including high-performance enterprise computing and military, industrial, or rugged applications, will continue to provide a solid base of revenue for the SSD market. These applications leverage the advantages inherent with SSDs as compared to other storage technology solutions. However, the real growth engine for SSDs will be derived from new markets that SSDs are just now beginning to penetrate.

Future market trends related to price per gigabyte, performance, power, and reliability requirements align well with the benefits that SSDs provide in certain market segments, such as in the PC, ultra low-cost PC (ULCPC), and enterprise computing segments, and this is where IDC expects adoption to occur. For instance, as NAND flash pricing continues to decline, SSD price points will follow. This increasing affordability will continue to feed device OEM interest in using SSDs in their designs, especially those segments where storage and environmental requirements play to the strengths of SSDs.

"The future for SSDs continues to look bright," said Jeff Janukowicz, research manager for Hard Disk Drive Components and Solid State Disk Drives. "Adoption will be measured and deliberate, focusing first on market segments that can tolerate the premium associated with SSDs (e.g., enterprise storage, high-end PCs, and power users). Nevertheless, IDC sees nothing but increasing opportunities for SSDs as technology advances and requirements converge."