Global Enterprise NAS Market 2016-2020

Overview of the global enterprise network-attached storage (NAS) market

Extensive research carried out by the analysts at Technavio has shown that the global enterprise network-attached storage (NAS) market will grow at an impressive CAGR of nearly 22% over the forecast period. The demand for collaborative working environment between enterprises is one of the key drivers that is gaining momentum in the market. NAS systems benefit enterprises by providing a central location for storing business data and also grants users remote access to files stored on devices. Enterprises can also back up their data from off-site locations by logging in and uploading files to the NAS system. As a result, the cost of buying NAS systems with large hard drives is significantly reduced as it allows access to files stored on the NAS drives.

The growing implementation of software-defined storage (SDS) is another factor that will propel the growth prospects for the enterprise NAS market in the coming years. SDS is an evolving concept that separates software services such as data management, data protection, placement of data, and I/O capabilities from the underlying storage infrastructure. This software increases the flexibility, scalability, and automation of the enterprise storage infrastructure. In addition, SDS helps reduce the overall storage costs for enterprises. This technology is implemented via appliances as a part of a scale-out NAS solution. Since SDS is a key component of the software-defined data center (SDDC), it is gaining widespread popularity among enterprises worldwide.

Competitive landscape and key vendors

The global enterprise NAS market is dominated by the mega data center operators. However, with the growing popularity of the ODM’s white-box storage units, the market revenue for the top players in the market will decrease. Furthermore, with the increasing adoption of unified storage arrays, the level of competition in this market will also increase. As a result, vendors have started offering innovative NAS storage systems equipped with flash or hybrid drives to gain a competitive edge over their peers.

Key vendors in the market are -

• Buffalo Technology
• Dell
• EMC
• Hitachi
• HP
• IBM
• NetApp
• NETGEAR
• QNAP
• Seagate
• Synology
• Western Digital Technologies

Other prominent members in the market are Aberdeen, AC&NC, Asustor, Cisco, CTERA Networks, DataDirect Networks, Drobo, Fujitsu, LeCie (Seagate), Lenovo, Nfina Technologies, Oracle, Overland Storage, Quantum, Symantec, and Thecus.

Segmentation by end user and the analysis of the enterprise NAS market

• Large enterprise
• SME

At present, the large enterprise segment dominates this market and is likely to generate revenues of around USD 11 billion by 2020.  NAS devices allow end users to own an efficient and secure data storage device at a low cost. Large enterprises use NAS file sharing systems for Windows file serving as it has advanced features to deal with unstructured data. The adoption of hybrid arrays combining both NAS and storage area network (SAN) will continue to grow among large enterprises during the forecast period.

Geographical segmentation and analysis of the enterprise NAS market

• Americas
• EPAC
• EMEA

In terms of geography, the Americas led the enterprise NAS market and is expected to account for more than 40% of the total market share by 2020. The Americas is the key region for the cloud storage market and is the operating base for CSPs. The NAS system is an essential component for storing significant volumes of data that is generated by large enterprises. Moreover, the small enterprises in this region are adopting high-end NAS systems that enable PB of data storage.

Key questions answered in the report include

• What will the enterprise NAS market size and the growth rate be in 2020?
• What are the key factors driving the global enterprise NAS market?
• What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global enterprise NAS market?
• What are the challenges to market growth?
• Who are the key vendors in the global enterprise NAS market?
• What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global enterprise NAS market?
• Trending factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA.
• What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global enterprise NAS market?