With new data storage solutions on the rise, old school data storage is being left in the dust.
Sales have taken a 2.2% loss to $10.4 billion in the fourth-quarter according to International Data Corporation, with some companies taking hits as large as 5%+. It’s obvious that this trend is no longer the popular choice amongst consumers. But that leaves us wondering– where are all of the consumers turning for their data storage needs?
From a recent article in Fortune:
“The IDC report shows that although more old-school storage systems are declining, like those based on spinning discs, the market for flash-based storage is on the rise. IDC analysts explained that sales of all-flash storage systems grew 72% year over year in the fourth quarter to $955.4 million.”
Not surprising, as flash-based storage is the standard for mobile devices (i.e. tablets, mp3 players, notebooks and smartphones). With the reduced power consumption benefits of flash-based storage, it just makes sense for devices that depend on battery life. Sales of portable devices have been on the rise for years, thus impacting the influx of flash-based storage usage.
“Additionally, when companies are looking to buy storage hardware, they seem to purchase products that bundle storage capabilities into servers. Some examples of companies selling these type of hybrid storage and server systems include fast rising startups Nutanix and Simplivity.”
Hybrid systems have the ability to balance both cost and speed. By having this system in-house, companies can greatly decrease their latency while keeping costs below cloud-based storage – obviously the ideal situation for a company feeling the economic turbulence of the last few years.
That being said, it is still clear that cloud-based storage poses a huge risk to the more traditional vendors. Per the IDC, it is expected that cloud-based storage sales will continue to rise in the upcoming years.
You can learn more about the decline of data storage hardware sales in the above-mentioned article.
