This study provides an overview of external disk systems spending trends and forecasts for 11 vertical markets in the top 5 Western European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.) for 2007-2012. A detailed analysis of trends and assumptions by vertical market in Western Europe, consistent with this study, can be found in the recently published Western Europe, Vertical Markets Disk Systems Spending, Forecast 2007-2012 (IDC #SS01Q, July 2008).

Vertical markets covered include: discrete manufacturing; process manufacturing; retail/wholesale; financial services; business services; transport; communications; utilities; government; healthcare and education; other.

"Financial services will continue to represent the largest opportunity in terms of incremental revenue across all countries, although it will grow below the market average in most countries, with few exceptions. However, key differences emerge from the analysis of the vertical trends at a country level," said Serena Da Rold, program manager, IDC European Vertical Views. "Germany will remain the largest country market, with the best opportunities in government, healthcare, utilities, and retail. Spain, across all vertical markets, and the U.K., still driven mainly by the public sector, are expected to generate the strongest growth among the five largest economies in the region."