IDC's Storage and Computing Infrastructure Software Platforms service analyzes the opportunities, technologies, use cases, and trends that are driving the changes in and growth of (storage and computing) infrastructure software platforms markets. This service provides the market intelligence to help product, marketing, and strategic planning professionals create successful business strategies. Subscribers to this service receive direct access to IDC's top industry experts who provide market insights, competitive analysis, and positioning advice; identify strategic partnering opportunities; assist with speaking to the investment community; provide press quotes; and more.

• Data replication, protection, and recovery software
• Archiving software
• Storage and device management software
• Storage infrastructure software
• Software-defined storage controller software
• Operating system (OS) environments (server and embedded)
• Container storage infrastructure (including associated orchestration and clustering software)
• Emerging standards and their impact on infrastructure software platforms and corresponding vendor strategies
• Use of (storage and computing) infrastructure software platforms to address business continuity and operational and disaster recovery
• Impact of virtualization and containerization on infrastructure software platform markets, specifically storage software platforms and operating system environments
• Convergence of storage and computing platform management with datacenter orchestration
• Impact of integrated systems and hyperconverged systems on storage and operating system environments and go-to-market best practices
• Adoption of storage software platforms and operating system environments in public, private, and hybrid cloud deployments

• Worldwide Storage Software Market Size, Forecast, and Shares
• Worldwide Data Protection and Recovery Market Forecast and Vendor Shares
• Worldwide Software-Defined Storage Controller Software Platforms Market Size, Forecast, and Vendor Shares
• Worldwide Archiving Software Market Size, Forecast, and Vendor Shares
• Worldwide Container Storage Infrastructure Market Size and Forecast
• Worldwide Operating Systems Market Size, Forecast, and Analysis with Vendor Shares (Focus on Server/Core and Embedded OSs)
• Vendor Profiles, Case Studies, Demand-Side Viewpoints, End-User Insights, and Market Predictions
• Edge Infrastructure Software Segmentation and Forecast

In addition to the insight provided in this service, IDC may conduct research on specific topics or emerging market segments via research offerings that require additional IDC funding and client investment.

1. How has the adoption of cloud-based services changed the requirements for storage software?
2. What is the impact of software-defined storage on the storage hardware and software markets?
3. What role will software-only offerings have in the hyperconverged market?
4. How are storage software vendors addressing the needs of small and medium-sized businesses?
5. What impact will convergence have on the storage software market?
6. How will start-ups influence the storage software market and established offerings? How are server/core operating systems evolving in a virtualized, containerized, cloud-centric world?
7. How are software-defined storage, networking, and compute impacting server/core operating system environments?
8. How are embedded operating systems evolving in an edge, converged IT/OT, and IoT-centric world?
9. How are trends in virtualization and containerization impacting compute and storage infrastructure software platforms?