The latest numbers are out, and PBBA numbers are up — way up! (For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, PBBA stands for purpose-built backup appliance. Also known as disk backup appliances or deduplication storage systems.)  

Not only did the PBBA market soar, but our market share also grew substantially. According to the latest IDC research report, the worldwide PBBA market increased 43.4% to $2.4 billion in 2011, and with 65.5% market share, we widened our lead to more than 4x our nearest competitor. 

So, not only is the market on track (we’re not all innovating for innovation’s sake), but we’re on course. Woot! Woot! It doesn’t always happen this way, but I sure love it when it does.  Makes my job easier, and, well, a lot more fun. No trying to fit square pegs in round holes. The facts are the facts.

What accounts for the continued strength of the market? As IDC points out, the numbers reflect the ongoing need organizations have to continue to improve backup window times, provide faster backup and recovery times and integrate with existing backup applications and infrastructures. But more than that, as we’ve been discussing on this site, the numbers underscore a fundamental shift in how IT — and really business  in general — is thinking about and doing backup.

In fact, according to ESG’s 2012 IT Spending Intentions survey, many of you are prioritizing “improving backup and recovery” right alongside “increasing use of server virtualization.”  Wow! Enough said.

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