EMC is tops among SAN storage vendors

EMC is twice as likely as their nearest competitor to be the favorite storage vendor.  20% of those decision makers naming a preferred vendor identified EMC, while around 10% named HP and Dell, respectively. IBM trailed somewhat at 7%. 

Recently, we reported that SAN is the overwhelming choice for planned storage solutions—39% of all storage projects will be SAN, while only 5% will be NAS-based. Digging deeper into these IT Priorities data turned up something worth blogging about—storage vendor preferences. 

What rings their bell about EMC? Looks like the majority embrace EMC's SAN solutions (75% of our IT pros), and the same proportion look to HP for SAN. Among those preferring IBM, only half named a SAN project.

In contrast, Dell is the #1 choice for NAS--40% prefer Dell for NAS solutions, the highest of any storage vendor in our study.  Of course, this ranking could shift in the over the next 12 months or so as IBM makes inroads into the NAS market, in competition against the Dell and EMC partnership

Counterbalancing these preferences are those who tell us they are avoiding certain storage vendors. HP stands out as the vendor that more are saying 'nay' to when it comes to selecting a storage vendor. Among those avoiding HP, 65% are avoiding HP SAN solutions. Nearly equal numbers report they are avoiding EMC, Dell, and IBM—roughly 75% of the 'avoiders' are shying away from these vendors' SAN offerings.

The emerging partnerships among the key players are altering the landscape fairly quickly, and sorting out preferred vendors is going to get more complicated down the road.  Stay tuned.