Single tape drives to grow at 1.3% a year in Asia-Pacific

According to IDC, the market for branded single tape drives is expected to increase to $222 mln by 2008 which represents a 2003-2008 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.3%. This low growth reflects the decrease in the entry-level segment of the tape drive storage market and considerable price pressures in the midrange and enterprise segments, as well as the increased use of disk-based systems for backup and recovery.

The single tape drive storage systems market in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) in the first half of 2004 was estimated at $114.4 mln, representing an 8.0% YTY increase over the first half of 2003. Australia continued to lead the market with a 20.2% share by value of shipments. India trailed at 15.8% and China ranked third, accounting for 14.5% of the market.