Yahoo! News – Data Storage Market Revenue Up 3.5 Pct in 1st Quarter

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Revenue from worldwide sales of computer-disk storage systems rose 3.5 percent in the first quarter and global sales of external disk storage systems posted year-over-year revenue growth for the third consecutive quarter, market research firm IDC said on Thursday.

External disk storage systems revenue rose 6.5 percent to $3.5 billion in the first quarter, IDC said, according to its worldwide quarterly disk storage systems tracker.

In that market, EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC – news) took the No. 1 spot from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ – news), fueled by a 26 percent increase in year-over-year revenue and ended the quarter with 20.2 percent of the external disk storage system market as measured by revenue, IDC said.

HP’s revenue share fell to 18 percent, or $630 million in the first quarter, from 19.3 percent, or $634 million in the year-ago quarter. EMC had external disk storage systems revenue of $707 million in the quarter, up from $561 million, or 17.1 percent of that market a year ago.

In total disk storage systems revenue on a worldwide basis, HP remained at No. 1 in the first quarter, with revenue of $1.18 billion, or 23.2 percent of that market. But that was down from $1.26 billion, or 25.6 percent of the market a year earlier.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM – news) ranked second, gaining to $1.00 billion, or 19.7 percent of the market, from $903 million, or 18.4 percent of the market, a year ago, according to IDC.

EMC ranked third, while Dell Inc.’s (Nasdaq:DELL – news) revenue from disk storage systems climbed to $351 million in the fourth quarter, or 6.9 percent of the market, from $296 million, or 6 percent, a year earlier, IDC said.

Hitachi Ltd.’s (6501.T) revenue rose slightly, with first-quarter disk storage systems revenue of $348 million, up from $335 million a year earlier and ranked No. 5.

Sun Microsystems Inc.’s (Nasdaq:SUNW – news) disk storage systems revenue declined to $309 million, or 6.1 percent of the market, from $325 million, or 6.6 percent, a year earlier, IDC said.

Total sales of disk storage systems rose 3.5 percent to $5.09 billion from $4.91 billion a year earlier.