In 2005, Freecom, LaCie, Maxtor, Netgear, and Western Digital entered the consumer network storage fray. This increased product availability and competition, leading to lower prices for consumers for higher densities. In late 2006, PC heavyweight Hewlett-Packard entered this market, followed in January by residential gateway heavyweight ZyXel. Goliath Microsoft also launched its Windows Home Server, adding to the recent fanfare of CES. HP is the first OEM to commit to shipping product with Microsoft's new platform, but we expect other announcements in the near future.
While still a small market, it more than doubled from 2004 to 2006. Two crucial roadblocks for the consumer network storage space are complexity and understanding. Vendors are waiting for consumers to catch up with their home network storage offerings. Many consumers are still not familiar with what network storage is and what the benefits entail. As digital entertainment files grow in number and size, so will the need for more storage. This report includes discussions of market trends, technology trends, suppliers, consumer survey results, and 2005 and 2006 worldwide vendor market shares, and provides five-year forecasts by capacity, price tier, and geographic region for consumer network storage. In addition, a detailed vendor matrix on product lines and features is also provided.
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