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Storage: IBM's Quest for Number 1
In 2007 IBM declared themselves to be the world’s number one data storage company. That claim was based on data from a single report from IDC that considered all disk and tape storage numbers in 2006. In that year IBM owned 22.2 percent of the total pie, compared to Hewlett-Packard at 20.9 percent and EMC at 13.2 percent. Some questioned the numbers, but IBM is doing everything it can to make sure that they become the undisputed number one storage vendor.
In an eWeek interview with Andy Monshaw, General Manager of IBM Systems Storage, Monshaw said that IBM sees the storage market in a period of hypergrowth. People have talked about ILM (Information Lifecycle Management) for some time but the hardware and software available was never up to the hype of the ILM dream.
Monshaw said that the storage market isn’t focused on price or operating system any more. The focus in storage is now on tiered storage. He sees high growth in tier 2, 3 and 4 storage while growth in tier 1 will be slow because people are moving data so quickly from tier one to other tiers.
IBM is forecasting continued strong growth in the storage market and has been investing with acquisitions that include FileNet, XIV, FilesX, Diligent, Softek, Novus and Arsenal. The investments are an across the board investment in general storage capabilities.
For example, FileNet was a leader in ECM, FilesX was a software data protection and recovery company, Diligent offered data de-duplication and protection software. Arsenal Digital was acquired by IBM in December 2007 and gives IBM a foothold in the growing storage as a service market.
Monshaw said the idea that storage hardware has been commoditized and that value is moving to software and services is wrong. Commoditization and innovation are happening in all areas, and all areas of storage are now experiencing tremendous activity.
