FRAMINGHAM, Mass., June 8, 2012 – Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted year-over-year growth of 7.1%, totaling just under $6.0 billion, in the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market posted just under $8.0 billion in revenues, representing 6.8% growth from the prior year's first quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reached 6,037 petabytes, growing 20.8% year over year.

"Despite concerns surrounding the hard disk drive shortage, the external disk storage systems market posted a strong first quarter with revenues up a solid 7.1% year over year," said Liz Conner, senior research analyst, Storage Systems. "Entry level systems (ASV of less than $25,000) were hit hardest owing to their reliance on SATA and near-line SAS drives, which experienced price increases due to the Thailand floods. However, strong overall growth in emerging regions and the slowdown in price per gigabyte ($/GB) erosion helped the market post year-over-year growth."

1Q12 External Disk Storage Systems Results

EMC maintained its lead in the external disk storage systems market with 29.0% revenue share in the first quarter, followed by NetApp in second with 14.1% market share. IBM is in third with 11.4%. HP and Hitachi ended the quarter in a statistical tie* for fourth with 10.2% and 9.4% market shares, respectively.

Open Networked Disk Storage Systems Highlights

The total open networked disk storage market (NAS Combined with Open / iSCSI SAN) grew 8.5% year over year in the first quarter to $5.1 billion in revenues. EMC continues to maintain its leadership in the total open networked storage market with 32.2% revenue share, followed by NetApp with a 16.4% revenue share.

In the Open SAN market, which grew 13.0% year over year, EMC was the leading vendor with 28.3% revenue share, followed by IBM in second and HP in third with 13.8% and 12.3% shares, respectively.

The NAS market declined 1.9% year over year, led by EMC with 42.6% revenue share and followed by NetApp with 36.4% share. The iSCSI SAN market continues to show strong momentum, posting 17.6% revenue growth compared to the prior year's quarter. Dell led the market with 33.0% revenue share, followed by EMC in second and NetApp in third with 18.9% and 13.7% market shares, respectively.

"The high-end storage segment (ASP $250,000+) remained flat year over year and declined 13.0% sequentially in the first quarter of 2012," said Amita Potnis, senior research analyst, Storage Systems. "The high-end segment grew significantly in 2010 and 2011 owing to the loosened storage budgets after the economic crisis of 2009. IDC believes that the softened growth in the high-end segment this quarter is reflective of what will be a long-term trend."

Source: IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, June 7, 2012

Table Notes:

• Starting in Q1 2011, EMC is reported as the combined entity of EMC and Isilon.
• Starting in Q1 2011, Dell is reported as the combined entity of Dell and Compellent.
• * IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide disk storage market when there is less than one percent difference in the factory revenues of two or more vendors.

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1Q12 Total Disk Storage Systems Market Results

In the total worldwide disk storage systems market, EMC finished in the top position followed by HP with market shares of 21.7% and 18.2% respectively.

Source: IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Quarterly Tracker, March 1, 2012

Table Notes:

• Starting in Q4 2010, HP is reported as the combined entity of HP and 3PAR.
• Starting in Q1 2011, EMC is reported as the combined entity of EMC and Isilon.
• Starting in Q1 2011, Dell is reported as the combined entity of Dell and Compellent.

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 lfernandez@idc.com.

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. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 48 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

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