Storage revenues up 18.7% in Q4 2003

The storage industry closed out 2003 in fine form, according to new market research results from Gartner and IDC. Worldwide sales surged 18.7% in Q4, Gartner reports.

Worldwide Disk Storage System Market

Vendors / Market share Q4 2002 / Market Share Q4 2003/ Change HP 25.4% 25.6% 0.2 IBM 23.3% 25.4% 2.1 EMC 11.7% 13.3% 1.6 Dell 5.1% 6.5% 1.4 Hitachi/HDS 4.9% 5.1% 0.2 Sun Microsystems 5.9% 5.1% -0.8 Net App 2.5% 2.7% 0.2 Others 21.2% 16.3% -4.9 Total 100.0% 100.0% Both IDC and the Gartner Group cited recent gains of 6.1% and 5.7%, respectively. Both reports hinted that the drought in IT spending may be coming to an end--or at least leveling off. The difference may be explained by the fact that the two firms look at the field from different vantage points.