IBM Delivers Higher Growth Rate Year-to-Year in External Disk Storage Systems Terabytes Than Major Competitors, Report S

December 5, 2004

IBM delivered higher external disk storage systems terabyte growth year-to-year in the third quarter than any of the other top six external disk storage vendors according to data released today by IDC [1]. IBM's year-to-year growth rate outpaced competitors including EMC, Hitachi and HP. The report also showed IBM gaining momentum and outgrowing the overall midrange external disk segment[2] through strong sales of its IBM TotalStorage DS4000 series, previously known as the IBM TotalStorage FAStT family.

In addition, IDC's analysis reflected IBM's strong gains in external disk storage systems for Windows and Linux environments. IBM outgrew the other top six leading disk vendors for Windows environments, and all major vendors in Linux environments.

"Storage continues to be one of the key areas of investment for technology departments as data continues to grow exponentially," said Tom Hawk, general manager, IBM Enterprise Storage Systems. "We are tapping into the breadth and depth of IBM's capabilities to change the game by helping customers manage data over its lifecycle, simplify infrastructures and assist with backup and recovery."

Building on the momentum of IBM's disk product portfolio, the recently announced IBM TotalStorage DS6000 series and DS8000 series storage systems are now available through IBM and IBM Business Partners. The new products, which will begin shipping in volume in the first quarter 2005, leverage advance server technologies to change the economics of storage industry and help clients more efficiently manage information over its lifecycle.