FEBRUARY 4--According to a soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Company Inc. (Norwalk, CT;www.bccresearch.com), RGB-252 Mass Storage Systems Developments and Trends, prior to 2001 the world demand for mass storage systems produced a market consistently rising in value by 12% or more. Market value advanced by nearly 17% in 2000. A faltering economy in the North American region, home to the largest regional storage market, and its spreading impact on global economics abruptly arrested that trend in 2001. The total market's decline of more than 7%, however, masks the surviving pockets of sustained sales growth.
Storage systems hardware was the culprit behind the market's decline due to competitive battles eroding prices combined with curbed demand. Markets for storage management software and storage services continued to expand in 2001, along with the networked storage market. Storage area network and network attached storage application markets make up the networked storage segment.
A sustained upward trend in the storage networking market over the next five years will be a primary driver of demand for storage software and services. The double-digit expansion in both storage management software and storage services will primarily foster the overall storage market's rising value. The total market for mass storage systems will average 12.2% annual growth advancing to nearly a $110 billion value by 2007. In addition, storage services will surpass storage systems hardware revenue to become the single largest segment of the storage market.
