Global technology watcher International Data Corp has released its predictions for the storage services market in Europe over the next three years, with the expectation that it will reach $10.5bn by 2005.

According to IDC, the storage services business in Europe will grow at 8 per cent year-on-year. Higher value services such as consulting will grow at a slightly higher rate of 10 per cent per annum. One of the main drivers will be companies that have so far failed to get the promised benefits of SAN technology trying the software and services route to get a decent return on their existing investment in storage hardware.

Their business proposition of hosting and managing customer data off site has also been undermined by what has been identified as a "cultural resistance" to the idea, particularly in Europe.

While IDC predicts that this market will come into its own over the next few years, it also expects it to consolidate and become dominated by a small group of large players. This is in line with ComputerWire's own predictions for this sector of the industry in the January 10 edition of ComputerWire Directions.

© Computerwire.com">. All rights reserved.