FRAMINGHAM, MASS, USA: Worldwide external disk storage systems market revenues posted a year-over-year decline of 0.5 percent with revenues totaling $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08), according to the IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker.

For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market revenues were $7.3 billion, a decline of 5.9 percent from the prior year's fourth quarter, driven by weakness in server systems sales. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reach 2,460 petabytes, growing only 27.3 percent year-over-year.

Natalya Yezhkova, research manager, Storage Systems, IDC, said: "Because of the global economic crisis, the last quarter of 2008 was tough for the disk storage systems market, resulting in a market decline from the same quarter last year. The negative impact, however, varied among market segments. For instance, high-end storage was impacted negatively by a freeze in end-user spending and longer purchasing cycles; but some low-end and midrange storage segments actually increased as end users broadened their search for storage solutions in these lower-cost segments to satisfy their increasing storage needs while optimising investments in storage infrastructure."

Total external disk storage systems
EMC maintained its lead in the external disk storage systems market with 23.3 percent revenue share in the fourth quarter, followed by IBM and HP with 15.7 percent and 13.0 percent revenue share, respectively. Dell ended the quarter in the fourth position with 9.3 percent share. Hitachi and NetApp finished the quarter in a statistical tie for fifth with 7.8 percent and 7.0 percent revenue share respectively.

Among the top five suppliers, Dell and HP posted the strongest year-over-year revenue growth during 4Q08, with 10.0 percent and 5.8 percent growth, respectively.

Network disk storage systems
The total network disk storage market (NAS Combined with Open SAN) posted 3.6 percent year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter to more than $4.1 billion in revenues. EMC continued to maintain its leadership in the total network storage market with 28.6 percent revenue share, followed by IBM with 14.5 percent revenue share.

In the Open SAN market, which grew 2.2 percent year-over-year, EMC led with 24.2 percent revenue share, followed by IBM with 16.5 percent. The NAS market grew 8.6 percent year-over-year, led by EMC with 43.8 percent revenue share and followed by NetApp with 24.1 percent share. The iSCSI SAN market continued to show strong momentum, posting a 61.6 percent revenue growth compared to the prior year's quarter.

Dell led the market with 35.3 percent revenue share, followed by EMC with 16.8 percent.

Liz Connor, research analyst, Disk Storage System Tracker, IDC, said: "Although network storage continued its steady growth in the fourth quarter, fibre channel SAN saw a downturn, falling 3.2 percent year-over-year. End users are looking for more economical ways to meet their growing storage needs as many IT budgets shrink due to the current economic conditions. FC SAN systems fulfill many high-end storage needs, but usually at a higher average price."