Q3 sales of ECB devices up by 76.3%

India has emerged as the fastest growing market for external controller-based disk (ECB) storage devices with revenues touching $59.4 million in the third quarter of 2007, according to a report by Gartner.

The country registered a 76.3 per cent growth in the sales of ECB devices such as USB drives, during the quarter.

The global revenues from ECB sales totalled $3.9 billion in the three-month period, registering a 3.4 per cent increase over the same period last year.

EMC regained its leadership position in the country, with a market share of 30 per cent, as all its product lines reported a growth over the previous quarter. IBM grew close to 90 per cent on a year-on-year basis, with total revenues of $12.9 million. HP trailed EMC and IBM to occupy the third position.

"The third quarter of 2007 was a strong quarter. Not only was India the fastest growing ECB market globally, but it was also the biggest quarter ever reported in India in terms of revenues," Gartner storage group principal analyst Aman Munglani said.

The revenues in Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan, rose by 22.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The growth in the region is distributed among several countries, including India, Australia, Taiwan and China.