Large-volume Storage

HP wins, with IBM and EMC/Legato coming second and third respectively. Veritas is rather close behind. Sun and Dell complete the Users' Choice Club. It is interesting to see that in the past year, the market has swung away from IBM by 20 index points. The only (and that too marginal) gainer since last year is EMC/Legato who see themselves 3 index points ahead of last year. Also, last year, Hitachi was in the Club. This time, they do not figure in the list.

In 2004, we saw IBM narrowing the gap to HP by drawing within 29 index points. This time they have lost all that ground and are back to their 2003 levels. EMC/Legato who were placed fifth in the list last year with 13 points, rise to third with a gain of 3 points over that position. While 13% of those polled said they would shift to EMC or HP, 86% plan to remain with IBM. Also, 3% of existing HP customers indicated they might switch to IBM. 

The vendors who might be worried are Veritas and Dell. 20% of Veritas customers want to move to HP, while 30% of Dell customers plan to acquire EMC, HP or other solutions for their needs. Brand loyalties are the strongest for EMC at 92%. And HP would be very happy with 71% of the companies with its competition planning to prefer them.

Across the board, vendors have gained brand loyalties, except for (again) Dell. Dell's loyal customers are down 12% since last year. The biggest gainer in this area is Sun, upto 80% this year from last year's 33%. IBM has also increased their share from 61% in 2004 to 86% this time. An indicator perhaps that the large-volume storage market is on the up and the 

benefits are streaming perhaps equally to all players and the first among those equals is HP.

What is also interesting to see, is the difference between the top two (HP and IBM) and then the difference between the 2nd place and the rest of the Club. IBM had upto 70% of the market as HP had last year. This time, they hold about half as much as HP. But the rest of the pack are way down below in the teen's! So, let's take a look at who their buyers are.

Industry-wise, they're split up almost evenly across the board, with Sun taking in 22% of the volumes in BFSI and 17% by EMC in ITES/BPO. The same picture emerges in revenue-wise groupings. Leaving out HP and IBM out of the equation, Dell and EMC are being preferred by the sub-50 Cr customers and again in the 250-1000 Cr category. Above 1000 crores, EMC and Sun share the spoils.

HP, IBM and EMC gain their support almost uniformly across India. Other vendors see a more fragmented support base.

Their largest consumers are from the manufacturing, BFSI and BPO/ITES segments. 

Half of HP's customers are from the Services sector while they share the telco & media market equally with IBM. EMC is busy ramping up their product lines and even inventing new buzzwords (like “CAS”). EMC and IBM are battling it out on the NAS front. HP though seems to be sticking to proven product lines and posted an annual profit earlier this year, linked to their
storage sales.