IDC: EMC Still Number One

EMC expects its market share to end the year at 23.5 percent compared to 31.5 percent in 2000--a drop of 6.2 percent. EMC still holds a commanding lead in the industry, however, with IBM coming in second with 11.6 percent and Compaq close behind with 11 percent. IBM's market share is up from 6.8 percent in 2000. Compaq saw a smaller growth of only 1 percent compared to 2000.

EMC did see growth in the Network Attached Storage (NAS) market. This year, analysts expect EMC, with a market share of 42 percent, to overtake the market leader, Network Appliance. Network Appliance will see its market share drop from 45 percent to 32.5 percent. According to IDC, the NAS market will grow nearly 14 percent this year. IDC attributes this growth to companies' choosing to purchase NAS over larger, more expensive, complex storage units.

EMC's lead in Storage Area Networks (SANs) will dip slightly to 37.9 percent this year, compared with 39.5 percent in 2000, IDC reported. IBM will come in second at 18.2 percent, nearly twice last year's 9.6 percent. Compaq, which was number two last year, dropped from 19 percent to 17.9 percent. As a whole, the storage industry has seen a decline in sales because of economic factors.