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They're buying into the hype: Hyperconverged system kit sales hit $4.15bn for Q4 2018

Dell/VMware and Nutanix dominate, HPE best of the rest

Number crunchers at IDC told the world this morning that international converged systems market revenue grew 14.8 per cent year-on-year to reach $4.15bn in the final quarter of 2018.

HPE and other hyperconverged also-rans found themselves once again grabbing at the tail end of a burgeoning converged-slash-hyperconverged market that is – yet again – completely and utterly dominated by Dell's EMC and VMware businesses, with a healthy slice being eaten by HCI specialist Nutanix.

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Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) systems are now dominating this market, with Dell/VMware and Nutanix calling the shots.

The converged systems market is divided into three segments by IDC: certified reference systems and integrated infrastructure, integrated platforms, and hyperconverged systems.

In the fourth 2018 quarter:

  • Hyperconverged systems grew 57.2 per cent year-on-year, with $1.9bn in revenue – amounting to 46.5 per cent of the total market.
  • The certified reference systems and integrated infrastructure market generated $1.6bn in revenue – a year-on-year decline of 6.4 per cent – comprising 38.6 per cent of total converged systems revenue.
  • Integrated platforms sales declined 8.4 per cent year-on-yearto $619m (14.9 per cent of the market).

Big-ticket CI boxes are being overtaken by low and mid-ticket HCI systems.

An IDC chart shows a five-quarter overview of the market:

IDC_Converged_systems_graphic_Q4cy2018

Despite the year-on-year decline in certified reference systems, that market sector has grown for three quarters in a row, although HCI has grown more rapidly.

The top three suppliers in the hyperconverged market were Dell, Nutanix and HPE.

IDC_HCI_suppliers_Q4cy2018

Dell outgrew the market, as did HPE, but Nutanix fell back. The effect of this was reflected in Nutanix's latest quarterly numbers.

As considerable reselling goes on – with, for example, Dell reselling Nutanix software – IDC produces a separate table of revenues for the HCI software owner:

IDC_HCI_SW_owners_Q4cy2018

By this metric, VMware is top, strongly outgrowing the market, with Nutanix second.

In general HCI systems are growing strongly but they are not killing off converged systems – yet. ®

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