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| Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide Storage Services Market Will Reach $41 Billion by 2005 |
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LOWELL, Mass., February 19, 2002 - Storage capacity demand, business continuity requirements and managed storage opportunities will drive the worldwide storage services market. The market struggled in 2001 with revenue of $25 billion, but worldwide storage services revenue is expected to start to recover this year and grow from $26 billion in 2002 to $41 billion in 2005, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).
Hardware support accounted for the largest component of the storage services market in 2001, and will continue to be the largest component through 2005. Hardware support will continue to be the largest segment of storage services due in part to customers extending the life of their storage infrastructures as they try to hold off on new hardware purchases. Although software support revenue is only a small percentage of overall storage services external spending, Gartner Dataquest anticipates that it will grow as customers buy more storage management software. This will not only affect software support revenue, but hardware support as well, as storage management and virtualization software can help users increase their per-device utilization rates allowing them to hold onto storage hardware longer. "Improving storage use rates has been the mantra of most storage managed service providers (MSPs)," said Adam Couture, senior analyst for Gartner Dataquest's IT Services program. "One of the primary MSP value statements is that they can help their customers save money by increasing storage device utilization rates thus temporarily avoiding new storage hardware purchases. MSPs also tout more traditional outsourcing benefits, such as freeing up IT staffs from the mundane storage tasks of daily backups or delivering critical skills that individual IT departments may have difficulty bringing aboard either because of a market shortage of skilled professionals or internal hiring restrictions." Market forces will largely determine the growth of storage services opportunities. However, MSPs can have a considerable direct impact on shaping those forces and establishing themselves as market leaders. "Storage service vendors must align their service portfolios and service delivery organizations according to the dynamics in the storage services market," Couture said. "This means that many implementation, consulting and education and training opportunities will remain relatively flat, while storage management and hardware and software support opportunities will have more potential." "Many storage service providers are reporting strong growth in server and database backup services as well. In light of Sept. 11, enterprises are putting more emphasis on their business continuity strategies than ever before," Couture said. "Success with backup and recovery services can help storage MSPs and other storage service providers to demonstrate the value of storage outsourcing and ultimately lead to attaining the level of trust many clients will need before turning primary data responsibilities over to an outsider." Additional information is available in the Gartner Dataquest report ""Storage Services Worldwide Forecast, 2000-2005." This report provides the outlook for storage services through the various segments of the industry. Gartner will provide additional analysis on the future of the IT services industry during Gartner IT Services and Sourcing Summit 2002, which will be held May 15-17, 2002 at the Rio Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. This event brings together both buyers and sellers of IT services and is focused on helping each with tactical market research and advice delivered by the largest and most experienced team of IT services and sourcing experts anywhere. For more information on this conference, please go to www.gartner.com/2_events/conferences/std5/std5.jsp. This information is produced by Gartner Dataquest's IT Services group. This group provides a complete picture of the IT services industry, including network integration and support, hardware services, consulting and system integration, outsourcing, life cycle service, strategic partnering and services marketing, software support, and vertical markets, including communications, education, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. To subscribe to one of Gartner Dataquest's IT Services programs, please call 408-468-8000. Reports can be purchased on the Internet at www.gartner.com. Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry. Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 11,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,300 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in more than 90 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2001 revenue of $952 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com. |
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Contact: Christy Pettey 408-468-8312 christy.pettey@gartner.com |
