Local Storage Market
The world’s number three network storage system maker NetApp is reportedly struggling in the Korean market.
According to market research firm IDC on March 18, NetApp Korea accounted for 5.8 percent of the local storage market in 2013, which placed the firm in sixth place following Oracle Korea (6.8 percent).
NetApp established a local branch in Korea in 2000, which attracted a lot of attention, especially in the network-attached storage (NAS) market. However, the share of the world’s number three in the worldwide storage market after EMC and HP is hovering around five percent in the local market. It is attributable to the strong influence of EMC Korea and Hitachi Data Systems in the market and a server–storage combination strategy of server vendors such as IBM, HP, and Oracle.
NetApp’s poor performance was reflected in a decision to curtail its operations. The company announced on March 13 (local time) that it will slash 600 jobs, which make up 5 percent of the total. The local branch was also said to be notified that it should reduce its work force as much as 20 percent.