EMEA External Storage Market Maintains Double-Digit Growth

The EMEA external storage systems market recorded another positive quarter in 2Q18, according to IDC. Helped by a positive exchange rate (+9.2% in euros), the market grew 18.6% year on year in the quarter.

The all-flash-array (AFA) market recorded high double-digit growth in dollars (73.4%), accounting for over a third (35.6%) of overall external storage sales in the region. Hybrid arrays also recorded double-digit growth (18.5%), and continued to account for the majority of shipments (45.3%).

The EMEA external storage market showed resilient growth on the back of resumed spending driven by digital transformation and infrastructure consolidation. Emerging workloads such as AI and deployments on the edge are proliferating in verticals such as manufacturing, healthcare, and oil and gas, where they bring advantages in terms of increased efficiency and better customer experience.

The Western European market grew 20.4% in dollars and 10.9% in euros. All-flash arrays played a big part in this increase, jumping 37% in total shipments with a year-on-year increase of 80%. For a third quarter in a row, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMA) recorded double-digit growth in external storage spending (12.8% YoY).

Almost all Central and Eastern European (CEE) storage markets grew in value, supported by deals in the public sector and the midmarket, supported by the channel. Performance in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) was more varied, but projects related to divergence from an oil-fueled economy supported datacenter infrastructure expansion in various sectors.