Gen-Next Tape Technologies
Tape-based solutions became more intelligent, and tape drives were equipped with more advanced features. In technology, the capacity, throughput and scalability had gone up in FY 2005-06 with affordable prices. In tape drives there were a variety of options to choose from, starting from single cartridge tape drives and auto-loaders to multiple cartridges and tape libraries that can accommodate large volume backups. The IT industry was the driver of this growth. Other verticals like BFSI, telecom, BPO, and R&D establishments also deployed these backup solutions. This was mainly because tape-based backup proved to be cost-effective and scalable with long-term reliability.

With data security becoming an increasing concern for enterprises, tape technologies like WORM (Write Once Read Many) became crucial. Vendors like Quantum introduced DLT-V4 drive that combined DLTSageT for predictive and preventive diagnostic manageability. They also developed the DLTIceT for meeting regulatory compliance requirements through standard media and WORM capability.

FY 2005-06 witnessed the genesis of tiered storage architecture-an advancement of the ILM concept. This concept of a hybrid solution entailed enterprises to combine disks and tape solutions. However, what caught popular imagination was the concept of tape automation. Both tape automation and robotic libraries gained popularity last year. HDFC Bank uses Sun StorEdge L700 robotic library, while Pragati Printers uses the Sun StorEdge L40 variety.

Market also Favored Disks
In FY 2005-06, the disk-to-disk backup became prominent, pushing tape into archival and long-term backup usage. With disk prices falling and SATA-based storage solutions coming to the fore, customers had a credible alibi for adopting disk-based backup solutions. Disk-based backups were also finding new applications. They were suitable for disaster recovery, imaging, document management, email, archiving, broadcasting, security surveillance and information warehousing.

Indian companies, both large enterprises and SMBs, realized that the way to reduce the backup window and retrieve storage was to use the disk-to-disk backup technology. Although tape continued to be a prime medium for long-term archival, backups were increasingly being done on disks due to a need for an ever-shrinking backup window as critical data applications needed to be restored quickly and efficiently. Additionally, disk drives were available in speeds of 10,000 rpm and 15,000 rpm, allowing enterprises to conduct ultra-fast backups.

With the arrival of cheaper disk technologies such as SATA, disk drives started giving tough competition to tapes. The adoption and growth of SATA would definitely lead to more organizations adopting disk storage as it would continue to provide a cost-effective solution for bulk storage. Nearly 70% installations in India in FY 2005-06 are still on PATA and their graduation to SATA drives would take time, but the adoption of disk-based backup is expected to be rapid.

Soft Side of Storage
With revenues going up by 38%, the storage software market matched the growth of external storage. The leader changed, though only in name. Veritas led the pack in FY 2004-05, while the FY06 leader was Symantec, thanks to its acquisition of Veritas. EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, Network Appliance and CA were the others in Top 5. Backup and archival software still enjoyed a lion's share of Rs 61 crore that constituted 47% of the overall storage software market. However, storage replication software and storage resource management categories showed more impressive growth of 82% and 64% respectively. Storage software was incidentally one of the strongest performers in the overall IT market as a result of increased interest in data protection and tighter legislation around data storage.

Continued customer spending on software for data protection, storage resource management, and compliance helped drive this growth in FY 2005-06. This spending growth related to data protection, including replication, backup, and archive software was an indicator of customers' continued concerns about application availability, data management, and business continuity. The storage replication software also witnessed tremendous growth during the year. The replication tool creates a second copy of the backup for disaster recovery. Incidentally, not only the storage vendors but enterprise application vendors such as Oracle, Sybase and Microsoft also contributed to this segment with their replication tools.

The reliance on business-critical applications was driving enterprises to deploy and maintain complex and expensive storage infrastructures. The emergence of new business models demanding non-stop application availability have made the organizations feel the need for storage management solutions, such as Storage Resource Management (SRM), SAN management, etc, to ensure that the end-users can work uninterrupted.

There was a gradual increase in overall shipment throughout the year. Naturally this translated into similar growth in storage capacity shipped		While HP ruled in the BFSI segment it was neck and neck with EMC for a pie in manufacturing segment. EMC, however garnered maximum share in the telecom vertical, as Network Appliance scored in the services sector

The Vendor Saga
HP--It was a great year for HP as it regained the #1 slot in external storage, led the market in SAN deployment, was the #2 in NAS-though way behind the leader Network Appliance, and still among the top five in external DAS. It was numero uno in secondary storage too with nearly 43% of the market share.

It launched a number of new products including the StorageWorks family which was its trumpcard in networked storage. Both BFSI and manufacturing remained HP's strong points-there were major deployments in large enterprises like Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Ashok Leyland.

EMC-Though EMC lost its top slot to HP in external storage, it remained the most exciting pure-play storage vendor. Incidentally, if the revenue of Dell, which resells many of EMC's lower-end boxes and contributes a third of its revenues, is added with EMC, the combine would easily overtake HP for the top slot. In storage software, EMC recorded a spectacular 154% growth bridging the gap considerably with the leader Symantec.

Its customer base crossed 350, with new customers like ITC, Mahindra, Hutch, TCS, Asian Paints and United Bank of India coming into its kitty. However, it was in the SMB segment that EMC showed spectacular success-it was the #2 vendor in this category behind Network Appliance with 20% market share. Add to this Dell, that increased its market share amongst SMBs from 3% to 13%, and you have a champion.

The new range in FY 2005-06 saw the introduction of both entry-level and high-end configurations of its flagship Symmetrix DMX-3 storage array. The India Development Center was EMC's largest software development facility outside of North America and the only software development facility in the APAC region. The recent announcement of CEO, Joe Tucci, to invest $500 mn in India was a testimony to the company's growing clout in India.

Network Appliance-It ranked #2 in external storage primarily because of its spectacular showing in the NAS segment with 72% market share. It was also amongst the Top 5 in storage software, though the real big news was the company maintaining its top share amongst the SMBs. It counted ONGC, Reliance Petrochemicals and British Gas amongst its major wins for the year, while increasing the scope of its engagements with top clients like Texas Instruments, The Times of India, Genpact, Aviva and JP Morgan Chase. Amongst SMBs, Prana Studio was a significant addition.

It introduced an array of products, technologies, and services that included a significant expansion of the NetApp disk-to-disk backup family.

Rajneesh De
rajneeshd@cybermedia.co.in

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