According to the International Data Corporation (IDC ) Worldwide Quarterly Converged Systems Tracker , the worldwide converged systems market increased revenue 6.2% year over year to $2.5 billion during the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15). The market generated 1,261 petabytes of new storage capacity shipments during the quarter, which was up 34.8% compared to the same period a year ago.
"The overall market is showing growth but that growth is primarily driven by very rapid growth in the hyperconverged systems market," said Kevin M. Permenter , senior research analyst, Enterprise Servers . "Smaller and more flexible systems, like the ones found in the hyperconverged space, were well positioned to take advantage of the burgeoning mid-market customer segment this quarter."
Converged Systems Segments
IDC distinguishes between three market segments: Integrated Systems, Certified Reference Systems, and Hyperconverged Systems.
- Integrated systems are pre-integrated, vendor-certified systems containing server hardware, disk storage systems, networking equipment, and basic element/systems management software.
- Certified reference systems are pre-integrated, vendor-certified systems containing server hardware, disk storage systems, networking equipment, and basic element/systems management software. Certified reference systems, however, are designed with systems from multiple technology vendors.
- Hyperconverged systems collapse core storage and compute functionality into a single, highly virtualized solution. A key characteristic of hyperconverged systems that differentiate these solutions from other integrated systems is their ability to provide all compute and storage functions through the same server-based resources.