The storage software market recorded its fifth successive quarter of year-on-year growth at the end of 2010 with all five of the top-ranked players increasing sales during the quarter, according to estimates published on Monday. The storage software market recorded its fifth successive quarter of year-on-year growth at the end of 2010 with all five of the top-ranked players increasing sales during the quarter, according to estimates published on Monday.The storage software market was worth US$3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, a jump of 10.6 percent from the same period in 2009, IDC said. The largest single vendor was EMC, which notched up storage software revenue of $866 million, up 18 percent from a year earlier. Symantec ranked second but achieved just 0.1 percent growth, at $543 million.Symantec’s inability to increase its sales enabled IBM to close the gap on its rival, but the two companies remain separated by a wide margin. IBM came in third at $443 million. NetApp followed in fourth place at $312 million and Hitachi was ranked fifth at $148 million. Hitachi achieved the strongest growth of the top five companies, managing to increase sales 47 percent in the quarter, said IDC. The storage software market has been growing since late 2009. For the full year of 2010, the market expanded by 10.3 percent to $12.7 billion and reversed a 3.2 percent contraction in 2009, said IDC.“The storage software market is in the midst of a sustained recovery, which is partly driven by new product innovations, and partly by a strong desire to address inefficiencies related to storing, protecting, and managing corporate data,” said Eric Sheppard, research director with IDC’s Storage Software program, in a statement. Within the segment, storage infrastructure software recorded the strongest growth at 23.6 percent last year. The data protection and recovery market remains the largest single sector. It was worth $4.4 billion last year, accounting for more than a third of the entire software storage industry, said IDC.“A considerable increase in storage software designed to enable automated storage tiering, coupled with a continued market trend of addressing aging, inefficient storage deployments were two important drivers of market growth during the quarter,” said Sheppard.(IDC is a subsidiary of International Data Group, the parent company of IDG News Service.)Martyn Williams covers Japan and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn’s e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com Related content news Chinese state actors behind espionage attacks on Southeast Asian government The distinct groups of activities formed three different clusters, each attributed to a specific APT group. By Shweta Sharma Sep 25, 2023 4 mins Advanced Persistent Threats Advanced Persistent Threats Cyberattacks feature How to pick the best endpoint detection and response solution EDR software has emerged as one of the preeminent tools in the CISO’s arsenal. Here’s what to look for and what to avoid when choosing EDR software. By Linda Rosencrance Sep 25, 2023 10 mins Intrusion Detection Software Security Monitoring Software Data and Information Security feature Top cybersecurity M&A deals for 2023 Fears of recession, rising interest rates, mass tech layoffs, and conservative spending trends are likely to make dealmakers cautious, but an ever-increasing need to defend against bigger and faster attacks will likely keep M&A activity steady in By CSO Staff Sep 22, 2023 24 mins Mergers and Acquisitions Data and Information Security IT Leadership brandpost Unmasking ransomware threat clusters: Why it matters to defenders Similar patterns of behavior among ransomware treat groups can help security teams better understand and prepare for attacks By Joan Goodchild Sep 21, 2023 3 mins Cybercrime Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe