This IDC study presents an updated look at the hard disk drive market for enterprise applications through 2014. The enterprise HDD market opportunities are discussed in terms of HDD OEM unit shipments, exit-factory revenue, terabytes shipped, and compound annual growth rates for the period 2009–2014. Additional insight about HDD demand for enterprise markets by HDD form factor, interface, and spin speed is also provided.
"The HDD industry planted seeds of change in 2009 with new HDD form factors that specifically address current and future enterprise storage hardware requirements. Sowing those seeds of change will take time given that transitions to new products will be slow and deliberate in the enterprise market. In the meantime, HDD OEMs must prepare to profit from a future HDD shipment mix for enterprise applications that consists of fewer traditional, enterprise-class HDDs but more capacity-optimized HDDs." — John Rydning, research director, Hard Disk Drives