After declining in 2002 due to a downturn in IT spending, the worldwide storage management software market grew a healthy 7.9 percent in 2003 compared with the previous year, according to a new report from research firm Gartner.
Revenue for 2003 hit $5 billion, up from the $4.6 billion recorded in 2002, said Carolyn DiCenzo, chief analyst at Gartner.
That includes the value of software from vendors that tie it to their array or switch sales, as well as from independent vendors. It is based on the value of the software sold by the actual developer of the software, not by any resellers. For example, Sun Microsystems was not in the top 10 despite storage software sales exceeding $100 million, as the vast majority of that software was made by partners such as Hitachi Data Systems, Legato and Veritas Software, DiCenzo said.
Leading the pack was EMC, with revenue of $1.4 billion, up more than 5 percent from the $1.3 billion sold in 2002. Both figures include sales of software from Legato, which EMC acquired last year.
No. 2 was Veritas, which had revenue of $935 million, up 4.8 percent compared with last year's $892 million. Veritas was followed by IBM, which captured the No. 3 spot with sales of $650 million, up more than 18 percent compared with 2002.