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ResearchPublicationDate:16March2011IDNumber:G00209412©2011Gartner,Inc.and/oritsaffiliates.Allrightsreserved.GartnerisaregisteredtrademarkofGartner,Inc.oritsaffiliates.ThispublicationmaynotbereproducedordistributedinanyformwithoutGartner'spriorwrittenpermission.Theinformationcontainedinthispublicationhasbeenobtainedfromsourcesbelievedtobereliable.Gartnerdisclaimsallwarrantiesastotheaccuracy,completenessoradequacyofsuchinformationandshallhavenoliabilityforerrors,omissionsorinadequaciesinsuchinformation.ThispublicationconsistsoftheopinionsofGartner'sresearchorganizationandshouldnotbeconstruedasstatementsoffact.Theopinionsexpressedhereinaresubjecttochangewithoutnotice.AlthoughGartnerresearchmayincludeadiscussionofrelatedlegalissues,Gartnerdoesnotprovidelegaladviceorservicesanditsresearchshouldnotbeconstruedorusedassuch.Gartnerisapubliccompany,anditsshareholdersmayincludefirmsandfundsthathavefinancialinterestsinentitiescoveredinGartnerresearch.Gartner'sBoardofDirectorsmayincludeseniormanagersofthesefirmsorfunds.Gartnerresearchisproducedindependentlybyitsresearchorganizationwithoutinputorinfluencefromthesefirms,fundsortheirmanagers.ForfurtherinformationontheindependenceandintegrityofGartnerresearch,seeGuidingPrinciplesonIndependenceandObjectivityonitswebsite,:16March2011/IDNumber:G00209412Page2of12©2011Gartner,Inc.and/oritsAffiliates.AllRightsReserved.WHATYOUNEEDTOKNOWThemonolithicframe-baseddiskarraymarketcontinuestoprovideadvantagesinavailability,scalability,maturityandhostsupport,comparedwithmodularstoragearrays.Althoughthesedifferencesarenarrowingbetweenthemonolithicandmodularstoragearrays,revenueforthemonolithicframe-baseddiskarraymarketcontinuedtogrowin2010.Thetotalrevenueforthefirstthreequartersof2010was$3.72billion,anincreaseof13%overthesameperiodin2009.ContinuedrevenuegrowthisexpectedasEMC,Fujitsu,Hitachi/HitachiDataSystems,HPandIBMcompeteformarketshare.However,themonolithicmarketfacescompetitivepressuresfromtypicallylower-costdual-controllerandscale-outmodulararrays,unifiedstorage,network-attachedstorage(NAS),cloudstorageandverticallyintegratedsystemsthatincludeservers,storageareanetwork(SAN)devices,andstorageintoasingleproduct,partnumberorreferencedesign.High-endcustomersarerisk-aversebynature,andmoststorage-relateddowntimeiscausedbylogicalcorruptionproblems,notbysiteortechnologyfailures.Evenso,themainreasontopurchasemonolithicarraysisfortheirhigheravailability,duetofewersinglepointsoffailureandmorebuilt-inredundancyfeatures.UserswithstoragegrowthratesthatexceedtheirbudgetswillsometimesdefecttomodularorNASarraystoloweroperationalcostsanddollar-per-gigabyte(GB)pricing,particularlyinsmallerconfigurations.Monolithicdiskarrayvendorshavereactedtothesemarketrealitiesbymakingcostadesignobjective,therebyenablingthemtoremaincompetitiveandprofitableastheyshiftrevenuesandmarginsfromhardwaretosoftware.Monolithicstoragearrayvendorschargeforthesevalue-addedsoftwareoptions.Althougheachvendorusesaproprietarypricingparadigm,theyallusesomecombinationofsystemcapacity,disktypesand/orthemodeltoincreasesoftwarecostsasperformance/throughputandback-endcapacityincrease.Thesepricingmodelsusuallyelongatethesalescycle,andsometimespushuserstoselectamodularstoragesolution.Thisisbecauseoftheworkinvolvedinquantifyingupgradecostsforhardwareandsoftwareovertheplannedservicelifeofthearray,andthedifficultyinunderstandingthelonglistofmarketingtermsdescribingindustrystandardoptionsandcomponents,support,andupgradeconsiderations.Mostvendorshavemovedfromaboxshiftingtransactionalsellingapproachtoasystem-orientedconsultativesalesmodel,whichcorrectlytakesintoconsiderationthecustomerrequirementsandlong-termITandbusinessstrategy,ratherthanjustsellingcapacity.However,Gartnerrecommendsthatcustomerstreatvendortotalcostofownership(TCO)justificationtechniqueswithcaution(seeBewareofTCOStorageToolsBearingGifts).Cloudstoragehasnotchangedtheclimateinthismarketsegment,becausemanyhostingandserviceprovidersandinternalprivatecloudimplementationsusemonolithicdiskarrays,becausealargeandfullyconfiguredmonolithicarrayutilizedtoitsmaximumcapacitycanoffercompetitiveper-GBpricing,comparedwithotherstoragesolutions.Cloudstoragecan,therefore,beusedasanothermethodtoexploitmonolithicstoragearrays,inthesamewaythatcapacityondemand(COD)andutilitypricingimplementpay-as-yougostorage-as-a-servicemodels.Storagevirtualizationhasalsoincreasedinimportanceforclientswhowanttovirtualizetheirstoragearrays.ThisenablesITorganizationstophysicallyconsolidateheterogeneousarrays,simplifymanagementandenablethemovementofdatabetweendifferentdevices,withoutaserviceoutageand,therefore,transparentlytoth