David J. Barton
NetApp has been identified as the government“™s top electronic data storage vendor in a recent GovWin report, according to a company statement.
The company quoted a GovWin Consulting study that revealed it held a 41.2 percent share of the billion-dollar market in fiscal 2011.
EMC followed in second place with 28.4 percent, while HP (6.9 percent), Hitachi (6.3 percent) and Dell (3.7 percent) accounted for the rest of the market.
The top five companies represent 86 percent of the overall federal market.
“The federal data storage market presents some unique challenges given the various mandates, regulations and demands on federal agencies,“ said Pierre Bernasconi of GovWin Consulting, referring to the Obama administration“™s ongoing data consolidation drive and looming budget cuts.
“Although IT spending may decrease “¦ the exponential increase in big data and full-motion video on government networks and new IT-based health services and medical should continue to expand the opportunities in the federal data storage market.“
Mark Weber, who manages NetApp“™s public sector subsidiary, singled out big data, cloud computing, mobility and virtualization as factors spurring the increase in storage demand.
“We have strong relationships with all of our federal customers rooted in NetApp“™s game-changing and innovative products and services that will enable them to unleash the power of their data,“ he said in a NetApp press release.
The GovWin Consulting study, which analyzed the public sector“™s purchasing habits from fiscal 2009 through 2011, revealed the Army, the Navy and the Air Force as the top three spenders in the federal data storage market.
