Worldwide Tape Cartridge Market Assessment
LTO Ultrium accounts for 96% of total tape market
Backup tape cartridge sales amounted to $121.50 million.
LTO accounted for 96.78% of total with sales of $117.59 million.
The media market is expected to be $117.42 million in the next quarter.
Total LTO volume was slightly off at 4.7 million units in Q4.
LTO-6 continued its expansion in the
quarter accounting for 22% of units and 36% of dollars.
LTO-5 was slightly down from the
previous quarter. It accounted for 41% of unit sales and 33% of dollars.
LTO-4 represented 28% of units and 23% of dollars. LTO-3 sales accounted for 8% of volume and 7% of dollars. LTO-1 and LTO-2 were off -21% and -14% respectively from narrow bases.
Combined, they accounted for 2% of units and 2% of dollars.
HP led the LTO market with a 30% share. Fuji was the second largest supplier and IBM was third. Q1 LTO unit sales are expected to be steady with Q4 levels. They will be supported by growth of
LTO-6.
The DDS/DAT cartridge volume was slightly down at .2 million units in Q4. DAT-72 accounted for 39% of unit sales and 41% of the value of the segment. DAT-160 accounted for 35% of the value of the segment and DAT-320 sold 2%. HP led the DDS/DAT market with a 73% share. Segment dollar sales amounted to $2.69 million.
DLT-S cartridge sales amounted to .01 million units. HP led the segment. It was followed by Quantum and Maxell. DLT-S dollar sales are expected to be off to $0.43 million in Q1. DLT-V sales were up at .005 million units. Their value was $0.23 million. DLT-4 cartridges accounted for 59% of units. Quantum led the segment with a 58% share. HP was second at 25%. Sales of DLT-V are expected to be lower in Q1.
AIT media supports its respective installed bases of drives. Total AIT cartridge volume in the quarter amounted to .004 million units. Sony was their sole supplier.
Shipments of QIC cartridges in the quarter totaled .003 million units. Their value was $.26 million. Imation dominates the segment with a market share of 97%.
The 8mm metal particle cartridge amounted to .00001 million units worth $0.0001 million. Sony was the only supplier.