To: J.F. who wrote (18203 ) 6/2/2006 8:23:16 AM From: Galirayo Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 23958 [EMC] I Still like that Donkey .gif. Data storage revenue grew 10.3 pct in 1st qtr-IDC Fri Jun 2, 2006 12:00am ET Email This Article | Print This Article | Reprints [-] Text [+] By Philipp Gollner SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 (Reuters) - Worldwide revenue from data storage systems rose 10.3 percent in the first quarter to $4.2 billion, with the largest and most-expensive systems showing the fastest growth, market researcher IDC reported. EMC Corp. (EMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) kept its top ranking in IDC's quarterly disk storage systems tracker released late on Thursday, claiming 21.8 percent of the market, up from 21.4 percent a year earlier. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) kept the No. 2 spot with 17.9 percent market share, unchanged from a year ago. International Business Machines Corp.'s (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) market share rose to 12 percent from 11.6 percent, keeping it in third place. IBM was followed by Dell Inc. (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) with 8.2 percent market share, up from 7.8 percent. In fifth place was Hitachi Data Systems, the data storage business of Japan's Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T: Quote, Profile, Research), with 8.1 percent of the market. Growth was driven by high-end systems costing at least $500,000, as large corporations sought to consolidate data storage in fewer, higher-capacity systems rather than adding smaller machines to existing data centers, said Brad Nisbet, program manager of IDC Storage Systems. In recent past quarters, growth stemmed from mid-priced systems costing $25,000 to $500,000 as customers tried to reduce costs. "It's not that the high end has taken over, by any means," Nisbet said. "But we do see a resurgence. The mid-range systems are growing very well, too." Revenue from high-end systems rose nearly 40 percent from a year earlier, while mid-range systems advanced about 15 percent, IDC said. EMC's Symmetrix DMX series of high-capacity storage machines was responsible for a large share of the growth in high-priced systems, Nisbet said. EMC also sells storage machines to Dell, which resells them as EMC-Dell co-branded systems. Such systems grew 26 percent from a year earlier and accounted for 78 percent of Dell's overall data storage revenue in the first quarter, Nisbet said. © Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.yahoo.reuters.com