Dell, Cisco, Nutanix Battle For Converged Systems Market Share 2018 Leadership

Converged Systems Market Share Q1 2018

Organizations around the globe are increasing their investment in data center technologies that eliminate inefficient silos and support business-centric decisions rather than infrastructure-centric decisions, according to research firm IDC's first quarter 2018 market share data report.

The worldwide converged systems market increased sales by 20 percent year over year to $3.2 billion during the first quarter of this year. The increase spending on converged solutions was driven by businesses seeking to "reduce the complexity of data center infrastructure and allow IT teams to focus on high-value business projects," said Eric Sheppard, research vice president for server and storage infrastructure at IDC, in a statement.

Dell EMC, VMware, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Nutanix and Cisco led the converged market which is on pace for a record sales year.

Converged Systems Market Breakdown

IDC breaks down the converged systems into three segments: certified reference systems and integrated infrastructure, integrated platforms, and hyper-converged systems. IDC segments hyper-converged vendors in two ways: by the brand of the hyper-converged solution and by the owner of the software providing the core capabilities.

The certified reference systems and integrated infrastructure market generated $1.3 billion in revenue during the first quarter, a 1 percent year over year decline, representing 42 percent of the total converged systems revenue. Sales from hyper-converged systems grew 76 percent to $1.2 billion, accounting for 38 percent of the total market. Integrated platform sales increased 1 percent year over year, generating $621 million in sales, accounting for 20 percent of the converged market.

Certified Reference Systems And Integrated Infrastructure

Dell EMC Share: 48%

Cisco/NetApp Share: 34.6%

HPE Share: 7.9%

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell EMC was the market leader for the first quarter at 48 percent share with revenues of $641 million, representing flat sales and share growth year over year. Cisco and NetApp -- which jointly develop FlexPod -- placed second at 34.6 percent share, up from 29.3 percent share one year ago. Converged revenues for Cisco and NetApp reached $462 million, an increase of 17 percent compared to first quarter 2017. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise took home bronze at 7.9 percent market share, a significant drop from the 13.6 percent share HPE had in first quarter 2017. HPE converged revenues steeply declined to $105 million, representing a 42 percent drop in sales year over year.

Hyper-Converged Systems Based On Brand Of HCI Solution

Dell EMC Share: 29.6%

Nutanix Share: 22.2%

HPE Share: 5%

Cisco Share: 4.9%

Dell EMC took home the gold for the hyper-converged systems market, capturing 29.6 share, up from 21.6 percent share year over year. Dell's hyper-converged sales for the quarter topped $363 million, up a whopping 142 percent compared to the same quarter one year ago. Nutanix placed second at 22.2 percent share, roughly flat year over year. Sales for San Jose, Calif.-based Nutanix jumped 71 percent year over year to $273 million. HPE share in the market rose slightly by 1 percent year over year to 5 percent. Hyper-converged sales for HPE hit $61 million, up 112 percent compared to first quarter 2017. Cisco placed fourth, generating $60 million in sales, up 145 percent year over year. The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant's market share climbed from 3.5 percent in first quarter 2017 to 4.9 percent.

Hyper-Converged Systems, Based On Owner Of HCI Software

VMware Share: 37.2%

Nutanix Share: 32.5%

HPE Share: 5%

Cisco Share: 4.9%

In terms of software ownership of hyper-converged systems, VMware took home gold with 37.2 percent share, up from 31.3 share in first quarter 2017. Revenues from Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware topped $456 million, up 110 percent year over year. Nutanix placed second with $399 million in software revenues, up 85 percent compared to the same quarter one year ago. San Jose, Calif.-based Nutanix won 32.5 percent share, up from 30.9 share year over year. HPE won the bronze at 5 percent share, up from 2.3 percent share in first quarter 2017, while software sales rose 281 percent to $61 million. Cisco generated $60 million in revenues, an increase of 145 percent year over year, while share climbed from 3.5 percent to 4.9 percent share.