|
Who are the leading storage software companies of the future?
This
is the 7th (and final) annual edition of StorageSearch.com's list of the the
Top 10 Storage Software Companies - as earlier this year we began a new
storage market tracker - the
Top SSD Companies.
There were over 184 currently active
storage software companies
listed in STORAGEsearch at the publication date of this article (despite the
large number of software companies which got
acquired or went out of
business). That means it was no cakewalk getting into the top 10.
The
ranking, below, is based on reader searches in Q3 2007.
Our definition of a "software" company in this context is
Independent Software Vendors who publish storage software.
This excludes
companies which also manufacture and sell storage hardware such as
EMC,
HP and
IBM.
The storage
software market will generate over $10 billion revenue in 2007 (out of the $200
billion overall storage market). Although growth in storage software is much
slower than other segments - there are some fast growing emerging applications -
as you can see from the companies listed here - which are getting the attention
of our readers.
Congratulations to everyone listed.
Zsolt Kerekes,
editor |
| . |
The Top 10 Storage Software Companies - 2007
as ranked by storage
search reader pageviews. |
| Rank |
Company |
editor's comments |
| 1 |
FalconStor Software |
FalconStor is involved in some
of the fastest growing segments in the storage market:- iSCSI, disk to disk
backup and dedupe. Those factors helped the company report 40% revenue growth
for the quarter ended June 30, 2007.
|
| 2 |
BMC Software |
The bigger the customer, the
bigger the data management problems. That's the customer segment which BMC
focuses on. That doesn't create opportunities for fast growth. In August 2007
the company reported revenue of $385 million for its most recent quarter a
mere 7% increase over the year-ago period. But those customers are likely to be
around for a long time.
You can get a flavor for what drives the
company by looking at the many
articles
and whitepapers on its web site. For example
|
| 3 |
Microsoft |
Although the benefits from
Microsoft's "SSD-aware" features in the Vista OS are almost completely
disappointing - at least the company tried. It will do better next time.
Microsoft's signalled support of
flash SSDs in
2006/7 helped prepare the notebook industry for big changes. That was much
better for the storage industry than was the case with
iSCSI in 2004 when
Microsoft's late engagement slowed the market down. |
| 4 |
Tabernus |
Originally known for helping
oems write better driver software for
SAS and
FC drives - the company
was one of the first to make a splash in the
disk sanitizer
market - a move which eventually led to them also selling hardware. That would
normally exclude them from this "software" list. But their primary
business is software and I already made an exception above for Microsoft - who
also sell
unreliable
games boxes. |
| 5 |
Quest Software |
Products to help you achieve
regulatory compliance for your data management - paradoxically come from a
company which on August 21, 2007 said it was not in compliance with the
continued listing requirement set forth by Nasdaq rules. |
| 6 |
Symantec |
Best known for its many
security and anti malware products - the company is also one of the world's
biggest storage software ISVs due to its merger with VERITAS Software in 2005.
In
August 2007 Symantec launched version 6.5 of NetBackup which "puts disk
right at the heart of NetBackup." Among other things the new version of
NetBackup supports data deduplication, encryption and virtual tape - which are
common themes in this top 10 storage ISV list. |
| 7 |
Atempo |
Best known for its
Time
Navigator backup and recovery product line Atempo supports Unix, Linux,
Windows and MAC OS.
Their one time
PR company (Boston Communications) has written an
interesting history about how
Atempo got into the US market from its Gallic roots. |
| 8 |
Arkeia |
Arkeia is another example of a
software vendor, who edged into systems sales - with its EdgeFort disk to disk
backup appliance which started shipping in July 2007.
Will that
strategy succeed?
Its investors are optimistic. They gave the company
another a $3 million equity funding to help the new product get traction. |
| 9 |
NTI |
The company best known for its
desktop backup products hasn't had much new to say in 2007.
In
January 2007 NTI launched a new version of its Ninja encryption software that
runs on the encrypted external USB
drive to enable password protected file sharing between PCs that don't
have Ninja installed. |
| 10 |
Exanet |
In June 2007 Exanet launched
the ExaSearch
enterprise-class search engine and in July announced that NASA was its 100th
customer. |
|
|
. |
 |
|
|
