IDC: Storage software market grew 12.6% last year

Enterprises are buying more replication, backup and archiving storage software, market analyst IDC found in its most recent quarterly storage software report.

In the fourth quarter of 2005, the storage replication software market grew 21.7%, representing the largest storage software segment growth, says IDC.

Businesses increasingly need to protect and secure the information they collect and that demand is driving the growth in the replication, backup and archiving segments of the storage software market, IDC says. The growing volume of software sales in those segments is also being driven by demand from businesses to protect their data throughout the business cycle, it says.

Sales in those segments helped drive the overall worldwide storage software market to grow by 12.6% in 2005, with revenue reaching US$8.9 billion (NZ$14 billion) for the year, according to IDC. For the fourth quarter, the market grew 11.2%, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth in storage software sales, IDC says.

EMC held on to the number one spot with 29.7% market share in 2005, down just slightly from 30.1% in 2004. Symantec came in second with 20.3% market share and IBM third with 10.5% share for 2005.

Network Appliance had the biggest growth, with revenue up 45.4% in 2005 compared to 2004, bringing its market share up to 6.6%. IBM reported 26.8% growth for the year.