Enterprise Hardware : Large Volume Storage

The large volume storage category comprises of 3 major brands making it to

the User's Choice Club this year and the positions have some surprises in store

again. Surprisingly, Hitachi wins in the segment climbing a good 4 ranks from

its previous year forcing HP to settle at 2nd position. EMC/Legato occupies the

3rd spot this year and Dell is knocked-off the league this year. And yes, to the

interest quotient of many, IBM from previous year's 2nd position is out of the

league itself this year.

Hitachi scores the highest on TOM recall and current brand ownership. This is

even more surprising if we look into the survey data of 2009 in which there was

hardly any brand movement expected towards Hitachi except from the non users.

Users' Choice Club 2010

Hitachi climbs a good 4 ranks from 2009 forcing HP to settle at 2nd position.

Future Brand Preference Reasons

The top 2 brands score high on reliability of products. But Hitachi scores higher than HP on brand appeal.

Talking about the industry vertical presence, Hitachi leads in 7 of the 8

verticals losing out in health-care to HP. EMC/Legato is visibly significant in

communication media and discreet manufacturing. On the geographical zones, the

north, east and west is dominated by Hitachi; HP is significant in east and west

while EMC/Legato leads the south zone.

Brand Loyalty 2010 vs 2009

Most brands have lower brand loyalty % than last year but shiftouts could be random.

As for the reasons for preferring the future brand, 84% and 81% responded on

grounds of reliability of product for Hitachi and HP, respectively. While

Hitachi wins over HP on brand name, the latter outshines the former on the

grounds of initial price of product and after sales support/service.

The brand loyalty is where all the top three brands need to have a check on

as the figures remain close to an approximate 65%. Having said that, the brand

loyalty for HP and EMC/Legato has improvised from last year's 44% and 27%,

respectively. The brand loyalty dip is visible in the case of Hitachi which

loses a noticeable 7% over the previous year.