Tape is a $1 billion market in 1H 2014
LTO-6 SHIPMENT GROWTH DEMONSTRATES ON-GOING
CUSTOMER DEMAND FOR TAPE
The Worldwide Tape Market (including tape drives, tape
libraries and tape media) was worth around $1Bn in 1H CY14 according to the
latest reports from IDC and Santa Clara Consulting Group (SCCG).
LTO-6 continues to be the rising star
of the market accounting for 46% of WW LTO tape drive factory exit shipments
after only seven full quarters of unit shipments. This growth reflects continued
widespread user adoption and partner recognition for the value that LTO tape
delivers. HP remains the market leader in both overall factory exit tape
shipments and factory exit
LTO tape drive shipments.
LTO-6
CONTINUES TO GROW IN POPULARITY
LTO-6 continues to drive the
tape market
with a rapid
shipment growth through
2013-2014 as illustrated in figure 1.
The popularity of LTO-6
tape reflects continuing
industry recognition of the role tape
can play in delivering dependable data
protection and longer-term archival for
growing data volumes. |
 |
| |
Figure 1: LTO-6 Factory exit unit shipments between
2H CY2012 and 1H CY2014 |
| |
|
Strong market traction for LTO-6 Tape drives means
that, according to
IDC, LTO-6 now accounts for 46% all LTO factory
exit tape drives
shipped in Q4 CY2013 as shown in figure 2. |
Launched in Q4 CY2012, the LTO-6 shipment ramp
compares
favorably with
the initial market ramps of LTO-4and LTO-5. HP is
the 1H CY14 market leader in overall LTO tape
volumes with a
54% share
of all factory exit LTO tape drive units shipped during
the half. |
WW LTO TOTAL UNIT MARKET SHARE QUARTERLY
TREND BY GENERATION (%)
 |
| Figure 2: LTO-6 accounts for 46% of all
LTO drives shipped in 1H CY2014 (factory exit data) |
| |
The best metric for the continuing value of any technology is
market adoption, and customers continue to vote for LTO tape with their wallets.
Customer demand for tape remains strong, and the technology continues to play a
crucial role in the storage hierarchy. With exciting technology innovations such
as LTO-6 and LTFS opening new markets and applications, the future of tape looks
bright.