IDC's Europe, Middle East and Africa Quarterly Storage Mechanisms Tracker: Tape focuses on EMEA drive and library (automation) shipments from a manufacturer's perspective, broken down by country, technology, and channel, providing clients with a good overall insight into emerging trends. Our research is further segmented to include revenue and unit shipments by capacity, and provides data for size of library. Because of its detailed tracking database, this research also helps tape vendors understand noteworthy trends affecting product requirements and demand. Quarterly updates and studies include analysis of unit shipment and revenue numbers and examine the latest competitor strategies and positioning. Market expectations are forecast up to two years ahead by quarter, updated every quarter to take account of short-term trends and events.

This product covers the following segments:

• Entry-level drives (Travan, SLR Lo)
• Low-end drives (4mm, VXA, AIT1/2/3, SLR Hi)
• Midrange drives (DLT, SDLT, LTO, AIT4, SAIT)
• Midrange automation (DLT, SDLT, LTO, AIT4, SAIT, and Mammoth)

Throughout the year, this service will address the following topics:

• Total available market (TAM) by size of library and drive capacity
• TAM by channel and country
• Pricing trends for tape drives
• The effects of revenue growth and declines for each technology
• Insight into the competitive landscape and how changing market shares affect strategies
• Impact of any potential new technologies as well as penetration rates of those already tracked

This service addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

1. How are LTO and SDLT penetrating the market, and how well are they competing?
2. How successful will new technologies such as SAIT be once they begin shipping in volume?
3. What are the keys to success for new players/technologies entering the tape market?
4. Where are the new sweet spots in the tape market in terms of library size and tape drive capacities?

IDC's European Quarterly Storage Mechanisms Tracker: Tape service examines how vendors are positioning themselves to compete in the storage market. This service reviews strategies, market positioning, and future direction of several providers in the tape storage market, including Exabyte, HP, IBM, Overland Storage, Quantum, Sony, Sun, and Tandberg Data.

Throughout the year, this product will offer insight into the latest trends impacting the market. Potential studies include:

Quarterly sales-in spreadsheet by enterprise, desktop, mobile for drive types and form factor and interface.

As a privately held company, IDC believes that our customers are our primary constituency. A large percentage of every revenue dollar is reinvested back into our products, including more analysts, more geographic coverage, and extensive primary research.