This IDC study provides an overview of the tape storage market in China with emphasis on storage unit shipments and customer revenue, and is based on the current China storage market tracker for 2005. It introduces China's market drivers and inhibitors, provides an industry overview with industry highlights, and offers regional statistics to describe the market's dynamic trends. Furthermore, the study provides a five-year market forecast, including breakdowns by technology and by tape automation class.

"The competition among HP, IBM, Dell, and Sun will further intensify in most major industries. Although HP led the tape drive market in 2005, both IBM and Dell are watching its volatile market position. As medium-scale libraries make up a majority of the library market, IBM and Sun will have a great opportunity to show strength in both hardware reliability and software maturity. While distributors reorganize and vendors merge, only a few will occupy a large portion of the market, drive market trends, and force users to choose. Moreover, the emergence of new technologies will further impact market competition and put pressure on mature vendors. From the user perspective, large scales of capacity and high levels of reliability are what vendors must provide in the future," says Vicki Cui, research manager, Enterprise Systems and Storage, IDC China.