External Storage
According to industry sources, NetApp, the second-largest external storage manufacturer in the world, recently grouped its Korean branch with those in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the ASEAN region including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
“We created a new vice president position, which covers the ASEAN, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, in our Asia Pacific headquarters after the fiscal year change in May,” NetApp Korea explained, adding, “The branch office in Korea is to report to the new vice president instead of the Asia Pacific president.”
In the first quarter of this year, NetApp accounted for 11 percent of the global external storage market to be second only to EMC. However, NetApp Korea’s share in the Korean market stood at 6 percent, the fourth-highest, during the same period, while Dell Korea at the bottom posted a share of approximately 4 percent. NetApp Korea’s sales have remained at 23 to 25 billion won (US$21 to $23 million) for years, about one-seventh of those of EMC Korea.
It is said that NetApp’s poor performance in Korea is because of the local market environment revolving around high-spec storage devices, and NetApp’s lack of sales and marketing capabilities. “NetApp’s lineup is not enough to respond to the demand in the Korean market, where that for high-end products takes up more than half, and EMC and HDS have already built high entry barriers,” said an industry insider, adding, “Its Korean branch office appears to be rather passive in sales and marketing as well.”