Magic Quadrant for Storage Services, 2Q05 25 May 2005 Adam W. Couture Robert E. Passmore Source: Gartner Note Number: G00127958 Leading storage service providers in North America are executing on clear road maps, while investing in tools and technologies to meet evolving customer needs. What You Need to Know Gartner's Magic Quadrant for storage services is a useful starting point to identify and evaluate the storage services from a variety of vendors. Selection should be based on a detailed evaluation of an enterprise's storage needs and objectives, compared to a service provider's capacity to meet those requirements and fulfill those expectations. All of the vendors evaluated in this edition of the Magic Quadrant provide good services in their respective areas. Therefore, enterprises need to determine which storage service provider (or providers) can best address their particular requirements. Analysis Vendors considered for this Magic Quadrant of North American storage service providers were required to generate at least $100 million in annual storage service revenue and deliver multiple storage services. They were judged on the completeness of their storage service vision, as well as ability to execute (see "Assessment Criteria for 2005 Storage Service Magic Quadrant"). The Completeness of Vision score is based on the service vendor's value proposition, service technology vision, market presence and growth plans, as well as its fit into enterprise sourcing operations. We rated an offering's likely development in functionality, service and support, and how the vendor plans to keep the offering viable in a challenging marketplace. The Ability to Execute score includes ratings on the strength of corporate management; the vendor's offering in terms of execution, including partnerships, functionality, technology, and service and support; and the vendor's overall stability and viability. The offerings were rated on service breadth and maturity, as well as customer satisfaction. http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (1 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40
Input for the evaluation comes from Gartner's assessment as well as service providers and reference customers. The different categories considered in service provider evaluation are all weighted. For example, professional services capabilities are weighted more heavily than break/fix services, and input provided from references may be more heavily weighted than input from the service provider. Eleven storage service providers were selected for this Magic Quadrant: CNT (to be acquired by McData) Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) Dell EDS EMC HP Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) IBM Network Appliance (NetApp) StorageTek (STK) Sun Microsystems These companies range from hardware manufacturers and independent software vendors to large outsourcers. Not all vendors provide the same breadth and depth of storage service, and some specialize in the services they provide. However, these vendors are representative of storage service available today and are evaluated in this context (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Storage Services Magic Quadrant 2005 (North America) http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (2 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40
Source: Gartner (May 2005) Leaders Vendors in this Magic Quadrant segment are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market. These service providers have demonstrated that they have significant experience and understand the dynamics needed to successfully deliver storage services. They understand customer needs and have laid out clear road maps to meet them. They are investing in the tools and technologies needed to execute their visions. CSC. CSC is a worldwide outsourcer with few storage services delivered outside of the scope of outsourcing or managed hosting. CSC is extremely capable in heterogeneous service and support. As an outsourcing and managed service provider, CSC understands the benefits of effective storage management, including storage security; policy-based management; and storage-ondemand alternatives. In addition, it has made considerable strides in these areas during the past year, including implementing storage resource management technology at customer sites. The company has begun implementing information life cycle management storage tiering for many of its larger customers. CSC has aggressively invested in storage services, including Six Sigma and http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (3 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40
IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) for storage service processes. EDS. Most of EDS's storage-related revenue is derived from managed hosting and outsourcing. EDS claims nearly 12 petabytes of storage under management with 2 petabytes delivered through use-based pricing. EDS had a challenging year in 2004, with continued financial hurdles, layoffs and a new management team. For storage service, EDS is addressing some of these challenges through investments in automated service delivery. The company has been noticeably more proactive in migrating customers to managed storage area networks than in the past. It has also invested in storage networking and has implemented an impressive set of management and automation tools. EDS has adopted ITIL as a corporate initiative. EMC. EMC is a market leader in direct and fabric-attached storage, with an extensive customer base for services. In 2004, EMC grew service revenue to greater than $2 billion, contributing about a fourth of the company's overall revenue. Consulting and management services now account for about a fourth of EMC's storage service business. EMC has established professional service (PS) practices around enterprise resource planning, Microsoft, Backup, Compliance and ILM. With 2004 introductions of arrays and network-attached storage (NAS) heads for the low end, EMC continued segmenting product support into tiered warranties and offerings, although high-level support is still standard for its Symmetrix and CLARiiON CX products. Gartner anticipates more on-demand pricing alternatives and additional managed services from EMC in 2005. HP. HP aligns storage service investments and portfolios around major infrastructure initiatives, such as Adaptive Infrastructure and ILM. It is investing in managed services to offset lower margins in commodity services such as break/fix. Outsourcing capabilities were strengthened in 2004 as HP delivered on its Procter & Gamble engagement. HP seems committed to on-demand capabilities, but customer demand remains slow. HP is also investing in storage management and automation, and announced services to implement and manage them, including new remote monitoring and management services. HP is incorporating ITIL into internal and external service delivery. Gartner does not anticipate any major changes in storage service direction resulting from new executive leadership, but anticipated cost-cutting could limit some service investments. IBM. Gartner acknowledges that IBM is the market share leader in storage services (see "Storage Service Market Leaders Gain Ground") and it often sets the standard by which other service providers are measured. IBM's storage service initiatives are often driven by a broader set of IT services to enable outsourcing, managed hosting or customer-enabled solutions. As a consequence, IBM has developed extensive multivendor support capabilities. IBM's storage and storage service vision is coupled to its On-Demand Business initiatives and more recently to ILM. Its service portfolio includes business continuity and recovery services, infrastructure and systems management services, networking services, technical support services, and IT education. During the past year, the company announced several new professional services, such as data classification services and managed services for e-mail compliance. New managed backup services announced in 2005 target the midmarket. STK. STK's 2004 service revenue topped $917 million. Product support accounts for the vast majority of this revenue and extends beyond STK products to mainframes and distributed servers (most of these tend to be managed maintenance contracts). STK professional services account for 12 percent of overall service revenue and focus on data protection, storage productivity and http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (4 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40
Visionaries archive compliance. PS offerings include assessments, designs, implementations and optimizations, as well as data center services, implementation, and education and managed services. Most engagements have been in the areas of backup and business continuity, but ILM PS engagements increased dramatically in 2004. STK has also put an emphasis on remote storage monitoring and management, but these services have been slow to catch on. It is too soon to assess the impact that recent management changes in STK's service organization will have on service capabilities and directions. Sun. Sun's storage service "vision" is tightly coupled to service automation. The company continues to make investments in remote monitoring and management technologies and is committed to extending these capabilities to heterogeneous environments through Sun Remote Services and Sun Preventive Services in particular. Sun storage pricing includes a widening variety of on-demand options, and the company is currently embracing managed storage services. Sun continues to leverage partnerships for storage services and has beefed up partner programs to expand its PS capabilities. Sun has made several organizational changes in 2004 and 2005, including moving PS under the newly formed Client Solutions organization and replacing the executive vice president of Sun services twice during the past year. Sun has lost a substantial number of PS professionals through layoffs and attrition. Even so, it is exhibiting a commitment to developing and delivering service and support as never before in the company's history. Vendors in this Magic Quadrant segment have a clear vision of market direction and are focused on preparing for that, but they still can improve in terms of optimizing service delivery. One service provider in this evaluation falls into the Visionaries category. CNT. CNT is a midsize vendor of storage networking technology and Fibre Channel switching solutions and services. Its products are sold worldwide, but its PSs are delivered primarily in the U.S. and Europe. CNT focuses on long-distance storage networking for business continuity, and provides services for local and remote backup; archiving and recovery; technology recovery planning; and compliance. CNT's vision includes remote storage management and automation, and it has invested in service process tools. CNT's service organization was affected by downsizing in 2004. Even so, it nearly doubled its PS organization to 180 people. In 2005, McData announced plans to acquire CNT. Gartner believes that this acquisition is largely driven by McData's desire to accelerate its entry into the storage service market. It is too early to determine whether McData can successfully enter into and manage a storage service business, particularly in the area of PS. Challengers Vendors in this Magic Quadrant segment execute well today, but they have a less-defined view of market direction, and, therefore, they may not be aggressive in preparing for the future. http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (5 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40
Dell. During the past year, Dell has made significant enhancements in its delivery and support capabilities, including launching four worldwide Enterprise Command Centers. Like its product vision, Dell's service vision is to drive down costs through automation technology and standard, repeatable services that can be consistently delivered worldwide. A mixture of Dell-badged field engineers and independent service organizations provides break/fix service and support, but Dell remains the point of customer contact. Dell scores well on break/fix and execution, but has less focus on managed services and outsourcing, and offers support only on the products it sells or resells. Dell's laserlike focus on the operational aspects of service helps the company achieve operational excellence, but prevents it from achieving a higher position in the Magic Quadrant. HDS. HDS provides hardware and software support directly on its high-end storage line. Midrange products are supported directly or through authorized providers. During the past two years, HDS developed standardized PSs that can be delivered through channel partners. High-end products are supported directly. New PSs include life cycle management, application tuning and ITIL. Remotely managed storage services are expected to be announced in 2005. A structural reorganization at HDS in 2004 resulted in research, development and software engineering, as well as customer support and PSs now reporting to one executive vice president. This combination should drive tighter PS alignment and integration across these functions. NetApp. NetApp leads the NAS market and has taken an early lead in Internet small computer system interface (iscsi) over TCP/IP arrays. In 2004, the company grew service revenue 40 percent and changed the name of its support organization to NetApp Global Services to reflect its intention of addressing global enterprises. Servicing reseller channels and delivery partners bolster NetApp's service organization of 800, including 250 in a burgeoning PS organization. Six customer support centers provide around-the-clock, everyday support in more than 80 countries. NetApp continues to invest in its self-service Web portal and service automation, and has launched new PSs in iscsi, database, data protection and application integration. In 2004, the company announced a "Premier" hardware support tier replete with a support console to better address enterprise support needs; it claims more than 2,000 customers for the new offering. Its 2005 service initiatives include data life cycle management, disk-to-disk backup and virtual tape libraries. Niche Players The vendors in this Magic Quadrant segment focus on a particular portion of the client base, as defined by characteristics such as size, vertical industry or project complexity. Their ability to outperform or be innovative may be affected by this narrow focus. They concentrate on particular market segments and often only support applications that apply to those targeted segments. No service providers in this evaluation fall into the Niche Player category. Key Issues What are the opportunities, trends and forecasts for the storage service market? http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (6 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40
Acronym Key CSC Computer Sciences Corp. HDS Hitachi Data Systems iscsi Internet small computer system interface over TCP/IP ITIL IT Infrastructure Library NAS network-attached storage NetApp Network Appliance PS professional service STK StorageTek Return to Top The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 25 May 2005 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research took, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 2005 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/emc/article3/article3.html (7 of 7)12.4.2006 16:55:40