Storage software had a good 2010 says IDC

SALES OF STORAGE SOFTWARE saw a significant increase in 2010, according to market research firm IDC.

Global revenue for the storage software market was $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 10.6 per cent increase over the same period the prior year.

Similarly high growth was reported for the full year, with revenue of $12.7 billion, a rise of 10.3 per cent on 2009. This is particularly strong considering that the market fell by 3.2 per cent in 2009, one of the worst years for many companies.

Within the storage software market, storage infrastructure saw the highest growth of 23.6 per cent for the year, amounting to $1.2 billion.

Data protection also saw high growth of 11.2 per cent, bringing in $4.4 billion for the full year.

EMC was top dog for storage software in 2010, bringing in $866.1 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 18 per cent. EMC also saw its market share rise from 23.8 per cent to 25.4 per cent.

Symantec was second in line with revenue of $543 million for the fourth quarter, a paltry 0.1 per cent increase. But it managed to increase its market share by 1.6 per cent to 17.6 per cent.

IBM came in third with $442.9 million for the same quarter, a 10.4 per cent increase. Despite the revenue growth, Big Blue's market share remained the same at 13 per cent. µ