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Who is the real leader in backup appliances? A closer look at IDC PBBA report.

Phil_Wandrei
Level 3
Employee Accredited

IDC recently published the 2014 annual revenue numbers for Purpose Built Backup Appliance (PBBA) in their press release, “Worldwide Purpose-Built Backup Appliance (PBBA) Market Revenue Breaks the $1 Billion Mark in the Fou...” 

Since it has been more than a year when I last reported on PBBAs, Integrated PBBAs: The Times are a Changing, the time was right for an update.  For those of you following my last PBBA blog and the fate of my former Blockbuster video store, it has been remodeled and is now a Banfield Pet Hospital. 

What is New? 

The PBBA market broke the $1 billion mark in Q4 2014. This milestone is significant as the market continues to show positive growth and IDC forecasts the total PBBA market to grow to $4.4 billion by 2018 (a five-year CAGR of 7.5%). Symantec is well positioned to meet this growing customer need and continue to gain market share. 

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PBBA Factory Revenue, 2014 (Revenues in $ Millions)

Vendor

2014 Revenue

2014 Market Share

2013 Revenue

2013 Market Share

2014/2013 Growth

1. EMC

$2,030.2

62.3%

$1,958.8

62.5%

3.6%

2. Symantec

$417.5

12.8%

$359.4

11.5%

16.2%

3. IBM

$205.9

6.3%

$234.9

7.5%

-12.3%

4. HP

$134.5

4.1%

$150.5

4.8%

-10.6%

5. Quantum

$73.3

2.2%

$69.9

2.2%

4.9%

Others

$397.8

12.2%

$359.7

11.5%

10.6%

Total

$3,259.2

100%

$3,133.1

100%

4.0%

Source: IDC Worldwide Purpose Built Backup Appliance Quarterly Tracker, March 19, 2015

While the overall PBBA market shows 4.0% year-over-year growth, the real growth is in Open Systems. Open Systems (filters out mainframe PBBAs) is growing at 6.8% annually. It may not seem like much, but it is 70.9% greater than the overall PBBA market.

PBBA Growth 2014-2013.jpg

Within Open Systems, Integrated Appliances continue to outpace Target appliances by 25.6% (7.9% versus 6.3%).

Integrated appliances are tightly integrated with backup software and can have master or media servers built into the system to orchestrate the backup and movement of data to other systems or removable media such as tape.1 

Target appliances are used in conjunction with third-party backup software and designed to integrate in heterogeneous environments.1 

Market Highlights:

  • Symantec continues to gain market share.  It is the only Top 5 Vendor to increase market share.   
  • Integrated appliances are growing 25% faster than target appliances.
  • The popularity of Integrated appliances continues to grow, and highlights how they address the increasing cost and complexity organizations face today, Realizing OpEx Savings with Symantec Backup Appliances.

How is Symantec Doing? 

Symantec, soon to be Veritas, continues to be the fastest growing PBBA vendor. More importantly, it is driving the growth within the Integrated PBBA market and continuing to gain market share.  In less than four (4) years, Symantec has gained 39.3% market share.    

PBBA 2010 - 2014 growth_0.jpg

In comparing Integrated PBBA revenue, Symantec has grown 16.2% over the last year, more than twice the market growth of 7.9%.  What is especially telling is EMC’s performance, which led to declining revenue, -2.9%, and prompted the question, “Why do I think EMC is worried about losing ground in backup appliances?”

Integrated Appliances 2103 2014 YoY
Symantec $359.39 $417.51 16.2%
EMC $533.03 $517.46 -2.9%

Market Highlights:

  • Symantec led the Integrated Appliance market growth, 16.2%
  • EMC had a decline in market share, down to 49%
  • EMC had negative growth, -2.9%

Conclusion

The purpose built backup appliance (PBBA) market is showing strong year-over-year growth. Within the PBBA market, integrated appliances are growing 25% faster than target appliances. 

Symantec is leading the growth in the market. With its Integrated appliances, Symantec NetBackup integrated appliances are addressing the most significant challenges organization face; limited headcount and resources. 

Learn more about NetBackup appliances.  

 

Footnotes
1.  IDC Worldwide Quarterly Purpose Built Backup Appliance Tracker - 2014 Q4, Pub Date: 3/23/15.  All charts and graphs are based on this report.