Despite tough conditions in the U.S. economy, which have decreased demand for everything from new homes to semiconductors, the market for computer data storage systems is going strong, and with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard among its leaders.
According to a report released last week by analyst firm IDC, HP just passed IBM for the top position in the worldwide disk storage systems market — which grew 10.9 percent from the second quarter of 2007 to $6.9 billion — posting factory revenues of $1.25 billion and 18.1 percent market share. IBM reported revenue of $1.22 billion and 17.7 percent market share.
The external disk storage systems sub-market — defined as storage systems designed to operate outside of a server cabinet — experienced its healthiest revenue growth in two years, with factory revenues of $5.1 billion in the second quarter this year representing 16.7 percent year-over-year growth.
HP, which employs more than 3,000 people at its imaging and printing group in Boise, accounted for $655 million of the external systems market — making up 12.9 percent of second quarter market share — and tied with IBM for second place behind EMC, which reported revenue of more than $1.1 billion.
But behind those seemingly rosy numbers is the fact that of the top five disk storage systems vendors, HP experienced the lowest growth figures both in the total disk storage market and in the external systems space.
While external disk storage systems leader EMC saw its revenue grow 19.7 percent and IBM’s rose 14.3 percent from second quarter 2007, HP reported revenue growth of only 8.2 percent — lagging behind fifth-ranked Hitachi — and saw its market share shrink from 13.9 percent to 12.9 percent. IBM’s market share shrank as well, but from an already-healthier 13.4 percent to 13.1 percent. EMC’s rose from 21.1 percent to 21.7 percent.
In…