Demand for storage software products continues to grow, with revenue up 10 per cent in the third quarter, marking eight consecutive quarters of double-digit year-over-year growth, according to data published Monday by IDC in its Worldwide Quarterly Storage Tracker.
Revenue grew to US$2.1 billion in the third quarter of 2005, with the market for storage replication software posting the largest gain from a year earlier, with 16.8 per cent growth. The back-up and archive market also showed strong demand, with revenue up 12.7 per cent.
Products for storage resource management, along with back-up and archiving software, remained the storage software industry’s largest segments, with each accounting for a third of the total, IDC said.
EMC Corp. led the industry with revenue of $621 million, or 29.1 per cent of the market. Symantec Corp. secured the number-two position, following its acquisition of Veritas Software Corp., with 20 per cent of total revenue. IBM Corp. came third at 9.4 per cent, with revenue of $201 million.
Network Appliance Inc. landed in fourth position, with 6.9 per cent of revenue, slightly ahead of Hewlett-Packard Co. with 6.7 per cent.
Of the top five vendors, Network Appliance posted the strongest year-over-year growth in the third quarter, at 42.5 per cent.
IDC’s figures track new license and maintenance revenue. (IDC is a division of International Data Group, the parent company of the IDG News Service.)