Worldwide ECB disk storage market grew 5 percent in 2013

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Worldwide external controller-based (ECB) disk storage vendor revenue totalled $6.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, a five percent increase from revenue of $6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Gartner.

"Following an abysmal third quarter, the fourth quarter of 2013 returned to growth. Driven by pent-up demand and the year-end budget flush phenomenon, the market overcame a fragile global economy and grew a strong five per cent over the same period in 2012," said Roger Cox, research VP at Gartner.

While Fujitsu and NetApp had year over year revenue gains, only two vendors - EMC and HP - beat the year-over-year market growth rate in the fourth quarter. Propelled by broad acceptance of the HP 3PAR StoreServ and the StoreOnce disk-based backup platforms, HP led all surveyed vendors in year-over-year revenue growth.

Beyond its broad ECB disk storage portfolio, EMC benefited from the success of its VNX and Data Domain product refresh offerings. The increasing traction of NetApp's Clustered Data ONTAP operating system within its installed base, as well as an alternative to competing solutions, is enabling NetApp to achieve above-market results.