SANs to grow 7.5% by 2007, NASs to grow 5.4%

In the U.S. market for external disk storage systems, the market revenue of SAN (storage attached network) systems will exceed the combined value of NAS (network attached storage) and DAS (direct attached storage) shipments in 18 of 20 vertical markets by 2007. The two exceptions, according the report, are utilities and retail industries. The compound annual growth rate of the SAN sector is expected to be 7.5% during that period, while the NAS sector is expected to grow at a rate of 5.4%. IDC expects that, by 2007, SAN shipments will reach US$3.8 bln, or 65% of the US$5.8 bln market for external disk systems in the U.S.