IBM to Focus on High-End Storage Products; Drops Low End

On August 29, one less storage company will exist in the low-end Network Attached Storage (NAS) market. IBM has decided to focus its efforts on higher-end storage products. The low-end market has seen increased competition in recent years with Dell, EMC, Iomega, and Snap Appliance selling low-end NAS devices. IBM will also no longer accept orders for the IBM TotalStorage NAS 100 and IBM TotalStorage NAS 200; both were Windows Powered NAS (WPNAS) devices. The company said it has no plans to replace the WPNAS units with comparable products. According to a company spokesperson, lower-end NAS devices serve a segment of the marketplace very well but don't appeal to most IBM customers.

   IBM doesn't plan to drop out of the NAS market completely. The company will continue to sell its IBM TotalStorage NAS 300 product. The company will also focus on Storage Area Network (SAN) products. According to market research firm IDC, NAS devices made up 11 percent of $3.2 billion spent on external disk storage systems in first quarter 2003.