NetApp Follows EMC – Analyst Blog

As per the latest data published by the technology research firm IDC, the enterprise storage and data management technology company NetApp Inc. (NTAP) has moved ahead of its peers Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL) and Hitachi in the external data storage equipment segment.  

 

According to IDC, NetApp now shares the second place with another tech giant International Business Machines (IBM), while the information infrastructure and storage company EMC Corporation (EMC) occupies the number one position.

 

In the first quarter, IBM grabbed 11.7% of the storage market, up from 11.2% a year earlier, and generated storage revenue of $579.0 million. NetApp’s share in the same period climbed to 11.1% from 8.8% reported in the year-ago quarter, with total sales of $550.0 million just slightly below IBM. EMC grabbed the first position with storage sales of $1.2 billion, improving 38.0% from the year-ago quarter, while its market share jumped from 21.0% to 24.6%.

 

NetApp’s improvement in market share may be attributed to its new product roll-out, which was specially targeted at the small, mid sized and large companies, while EMC’s astounding revenue growth happened as a result of the revenue contribution from its Data Domain acquisition.

 

This apart, NetApp recently completed the acquisition of privately held object-based storage software developer Bycast Inc. in an all-cash transaction. This will surely enhance the market value of NetApp, as the Bycast acquisition is expected to augment NetApp’s strong position by enhancing its product portfolio with an object-based storage software offering. The company believes that the acquisition will enable it to expand its customer base to new markets including digital media, cloud services, health care and Web 2.0.  

 

Holding on to the second position will be a challenge for NetApp, as the company will continue to face stiff competition from all the tech giants in the data storage and management software space. At the same time, the acquisition of Bycast will give it a much-needed competitive edge to create its own niche in this domain.