Date:01/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/07/01/stories/2005070101650400.htm

Back India, China tape drive market set to grow: IDC

Our Bureau

New Delhi , June 30

BUCKING the trend of a shrinking branded tape drive market in the Asia- Pacific region, India and China are expected to see their markets grow in shipment values over 2005-2009, according to research firm IDC.

As per IDC's Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) Branded Tape Drive 2005-2009 forecast, the market is expected to decrease to $251.7 million by 2009, which represents a 2004-2009 compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of -0.5 per cent.

On the other hand, India's branded tape drive market, which stood at $36.4 million in 2004, would increase to $38.1 million in 2009, indicative of a CAGR of 0.9 per cent. Similarly, China is predicted to grow from $40.9 million in 2004 to $41.2 million in 2009, which translates to a CAGR of 0.1 per cent, the report said.

"The growth rates in India and China are relatively significant in the face of declining growth in the region's branded tape drive market. Due to the sheer size of their internal markets, these are growing countries in a region that is expected to see an overall decline in tape drive sales. The decline is largely attributed to businesses' consolidation of storage infrastructure, gravitation towards fewer but higher-capacity tape drives and tape automation systems, as well as the increased use of disk-based systems that provide near line back-up recovery capability. Storage vendors need to include these countries in their agendas if they are to tap into the abundant business opportunities available," Mr Jack Yu, Market Analyst, Storage Research at IDC Asia/Pacific said.

The single tape drive storage market in the region was estimated at $257.7 million in 2004, representing a 3.3 per cent year-on-year growth over 2003. Australia led the market with a 22.4 per cent share by shipment value. China trailed at 15.9 per cent and India ranked third, accounting for 14.1 per cent of the market. Indonesia emerged as the country that grew by the largest margin at 81.9 per cent.

"Although Australia, China and India have traditionally been the largest single tape drive markets in the region, it was Indonesia that registered the highest growth in 2004 over 2003. This growth is reflective of the strong growth of businesses in the country as the political climate stabilises," Mr Yu added.

Going forward, IDC expected the revenues associated with all drive formats to decline over the next five years, with the exception of Linear Tape-Open (LTO), which is projected to grow slightly, the report pointed out.