Storage software up 11.4% in Q1-Q3 2003

Sales of software used by businesses to store and backup data rose to $4.7 billion in the first three quarters of this year, a gain of 11.4% from the same period in 2002, according to a survey by market researcher International Data Corp. Over that time, sales of data-storage hardware slipped 2%, more evidence that technology managers are shifting resources from hardware to software as budget pressures ease. Sequentially, storage software sales rose 4.2% from the second quarter to the third - a surprising increase since the technology world is habitually more quiet during the third quarter's summer months.