19th in this series - by Zsolt Kerekes,
editor - January 20, 2012
Who are the
top 20 most important SSD companies?
... the companies which you absolutely have to
look at if you've got any new projects involving SSDs? This list ranks
companies based on the search volume of 318,000 online SSD readers in this
quarter.
There's a 1st time newcomer to this list - at the #20 slot -
and 2 re-entries - apart from the usual incremental moves and non-movers from
the previous quarter. The new format below clears out a lot of the detailed
comments which used to appear in earlier editions. For a detailed SSD commentary
on each company - just click their logo or name.
If you're searching
for a common theme in the top 10 SSD companies in this quarter - it's
not in the interfaces or form factors or VC funding or acquisitions. It's
this... Every single company in the top 10 has its own proprietary SSD
controller IP and architecture - even if they also use
controllers from other
companies. Now there's an angle you may not have thought about before. SSD IP
is still an important factor in establishing leadership in the minds of the
market. We haven't got the stage where the color or the
brand on the
SSD box determines how many get sold. Nevertheless some brands are now firmly
associated with particular concepts.
This is
Fusion-io's 12th straight quarter in the #1 slot. Fusion-io's search volume
was more than 2x the level of the #2 ranked company in this list and
10x the level of the #20 company.
StorageSearch.com tracks over 300
manufacturers of SSDs.
That's 30x more than when we started
publishing daily updated SSD guides in 1998 and 6x as many as when
we started this quarterly top SSD companies series in
2007.
Our
search volume based rankings give you an idea of which SSD companies other
readers like you have been following in the most recent quarter.
People
don't buy products (or companies) they don't know about.
StorageSearch.com
has been the leading publication in the SSD market since the 1990s. Our
readers have been making
SSD history
and not just reading about it.
The most important
thing is being included in the list rather than the position within it. As the
number of SSD oems has grown - since this series started - from 50 to over 300 -
and now SSD ISVs are another factor too - it's much harder than it used to be
to break into general awareness in the serious SSD market.
Our
brains haven't got any bigger. The SSD market has become
really important
- and we have to filter in (and filter out) more SSD messages - to recognize
those which matter. (That includes me too - BTW - as the
editor.)
Despite
the importance of being in the top SSD companies list - there are many
companies - which have strong positions and narrow product lines in their own
application niche - which can survive and thrive without ever worrying about
being in it. It's only when those niches get large enough to impinge on others
that the visibility stakes matter. Let's not forget that the whole of the SSD
market was itself a tiny niche in the
dim distant
past.
I sometimes get emails from SSD product managers griping
about the validity of these lists. My reply is that it's a marketing
reality they have to live with. Just as being ranked #1 or #91 on Google could
make a big difference to your company - being #1 or #99 with the readers of
StorageSearch.com makes a difference to your SSD business. It's not me
as the editor which makes the difference. It's our readers. SSD vendors often
tell me that our readers are the most significant new customers they see. (And
when it comes to financial matters and understanding the SSD market too - our
site is high up in the thinking of would-be investors, VCs, market analysts,
acquirers and go ahead vendors - as I know from my discussions with readers.)
I
also get asked by companies - what can I do to get into the list and improve
my rankings?
My reply is -
I'm just the messenger. I
created the format - but I don't pick who's in the list. I use the stats myself
to tell me - who's important and who's not - what's important and what's not?
Here's my advice for how to get better rankings...
Design
better SSDs. Improve your SSD marketing and spend more effort in
communicating with important SSD market segments. Improve the customer
experience of using your SSDs. Get your most enthusiastic customers to
spread the word about you by telling people they know that you are such a
great supplier.
Predictable,
industry-leading PCIe SSD performance. Scales across diverse workloads,
data sets, and sustains over time.
Learn more about - Virident
FlashMAX
.......
Past editions of the Top
SSD Companies
Top 20 SSD OEMs - 2011
Q3 - FlashSoft and Nimbus made their first appearances
in the top 20 list. IO Turbine would have done too - if it hadn't been
acquired during the qualifying quarter by Fusion-io.
Top 20
SSD OEMs - 2011 Q2 - Pliant made its first appearance at the top
10 end of the list - in the same quarter in which it got acquired.Virident
Systems also entered the list for the first time.
Top 20
SSD OEMs - 2010 Q3 - as the list was expanded to 20 SSD companies -
readers got better visibility of the changing rankings for companies like Pliant
and Seagate.
Top 10
SSD OEMs - 2009 Q4 - Fusion-io unveiled details of a very fast
PCIe form factor, InfiniBand SSD for "government customers" and
revealed that Samsung had become an investor.
Top 10
SSD OEMs - 2009 Q3 - StorageSearch.com disclosed that more
PCIe SSDs had passed 2.5" SSDs in reader search popularity.
Top 10
SSD OEMs - 2009 Q2 - SandForce entered the list for the first
time. First appearance of a company whose primary business was designing SSD
controllers.
Top 10 SSD
OEMs - 2009 Q1 - Fusion-io was #1 - announced deal with
HP and coming on-board of - Steve Wozniak. PureSilicon
entered the list for the first time on news it was sampling the world's first
standard height terabyte 2.5" SSD. RunCore entered the list
for the first time.
Top 10
SSD OEMs - 2008 Q2 - Memoright was #1 having shipped the fastest
2.5" SATA flash SSD family available during most of this quarter.
Top 10
SSD OEMs - 2008 Q1 - STEC said it would be supplying its SSDs on
an "exclusive" basis for use in EMC's Symmetrix DMX-4
following a disasterous revenue quarter. Toshiba entered the list for
the first time.
Top 10
SSD OEMs - 2007 Q2 - STEC was #1. 8 out of the top 10 made HDD
form factor SSDs. SiliconSystems received a patent for its PowerArmor
technology.
"You can't just
multiply last year's revenue figures by x100 to estimate the eventual
size of the enterprise SSD market. But it's a good place to start..."
