This update sizes the Western European external disk systems market by select suppliers and countries. U.S. dollars and new terabyte (TB) shipments are used as metrics. The update compares market conditions during the full calendar year 2004 versus the full calendar year 2005. All trends shown or mentioned in this update refer only external storage systems (a.k.a. arrays) for calendar years 2004 and 2005, unless otherwise stated. This document measures two forms of revenue: supplier revenue and market revenue. Supplier revenue represents revenue generated by the sale of branded arrays, and excludes the mark-up added by indirect partners (a.k.a. "the channel"). Market revenue refers to supplier revenue plus any mark-up added by the channel. Market revenue reflects pricing at the end-user or street level.

Data for this update was taken from IDC's Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, which tracks revenue, units, and TB shipments of new disk storage systems throughout the world. All data in this update refers to branded sales, which prevents double counting. All definitions in this document are consistent with IDC's worldwide disk storage systems definitions. IDC notes that this document precedes the forthcoming 2006 Western European Disk Storage Systems Forecast and Analysis, 2005-2010, and is intended to offer only a high-level view of 2005 market conditions. Full market details, analysis, and definitions will be available within the forthcoming forecast and analysis report.