SSD Use to Grow Phenomenally by 2011

By Greg McNevin

July 18, 2007: New research by the market research firm In-Stat has found that while solid state drives (SSDs) still have a way to go before mainstream adoption, the market for the next generation storage technology is set to undergo spectacular growth between now and 2011.

The company found that despite SSDs only penetrating an expected six percent of the PC market by 2011, this six percent still represents extraordinary growth considering SSDs made up virtually nothing in the market in 2006.

Six percent translates to roughly 24 million units in 2011, with most growth to come in the Ultra-Mobile Device (UMD) market according to In-Stat.

The company found that the higher price of SSDs will their acceptance until costs are more closely aligned with magnetic storage, however, it also found that for high-end applications SSDs ruggedness, low power consumption and performance will ensure growth as military and industrial designers always prefer SSDs to HDDs.

“There are few compelling reasons for most PC purchasers to pay more money for less storage than they can get using an HDD, so In-Stat expects HDDs and Hybrid Drives to continue to outweigh SSDs in these applications for at least the next several years,” says In-Stat analyst Jim McGregor.

“Nevertheless, SSDs’ advantages in lower power, higher reliability, lower noise, and faster access than HDDs, in an extremely durable unit, make for rapid growth in some markets, especially in military and industrial UMDs.”

Comment on this story