The global Storage Area Network (SAN) hardware market is on track for significant growth, with projections indicating an increase in size from approximately USD 11.6 billion in 2024 to over USD 16.6 billion by 2030. This growth reflects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1%. The expansion is primarily driven by increasing enterprise data requirements, the need for ultra-low-latency workloads, and the transition toward flash-optimized and NVMe-over-Fabrics (NVMe-oF) architectures.
SAN hardware is essential infrastructure in mission-critical environments, particularly within sectors such as banking, telecommunications, and healthcare. The market, which has historically been dominated by Fiber Channel systems, is rapidly evolving. Vendors are introducing NVMe-ready arrays, high-speed host bus adapters (HBAs), and software-defined SAN components to meet the rising performance demands fueled by advancements in artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud-native applications.
While North America currently holds the largest share of the SAN hardware market, the Asia-Pacific region is emerging as the fastest-growing area. This growth is being driven by cloud-first strategies, the expansion of fintech, and infrastructure modernization in countries such as China, India, and various Southeast Asian nations.
Major players in the SAN hardware market include Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), IBM, NetApp, Cisco, Pure Storage, and Huawei. These companies are actively enhancing their SAN offerings to remain competitive amid an environment of hyperscale disaggregation and shifting enterprise demands.
Regional Market Dynamics
In 2024, North America is expected to lead with 36.3% of the global SAN hardware market, bolstered by a robust Fiber Channel infrastructure and hyperscale cloud projects. Europe is also positioned to benefit from hardware refresh cycles and increasing adoption of software-defined SAN solutions. However, Asia-Pacific is projected to experience the highest growth rate with a CAGR of 8.1%, driven by rising investments in hyperscale infrastructure and a shift towards NVMe-over-Fabrics among fintech companies and digital-native organizations.
Technological Trends in SAN Hardware
As of 2024, Fiber Channel switches dominate the technology segment, accounting for nearly 41.4% of global SAN hardware revenues. This trend persists in markets such as North America and Europe, where Fiber Channel”s low-latency performance and strong security are particularly valued. In contrast, InfiniBand is emerging as the fastest-growing technology within the SAN landscape, especially in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing environments, with a CAGR of 6.7%.
Market Analysis by Deployment Type and Industry Sector
Hyperscale deployments are commanding the SAN hardware market, generating approximately 77.5% of revenues in 2024, driven by investments in disaggregated infrastructure and NVMe optimization. Meanwhile, the enterprise segment is anticipated to see considerable growth, fueled by digital transformations in healthcare, banking, manufacturing, and government sectors. A notable trend is the shift towards hybrid SAN configurations that integrate cloud and on-premise solutions.
When analyzing the market by industry sector, the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector led SAN hardware expenditures, accounting for 21.5% of the market revenue in 2024, spurred by stringent regulatory requirements and the need for reliable performance. Following closely is the IT and telecommunications sector, which is expected to experience the fastest growth at a CAGR of 7.8%, driven by advancements in edge computing, 5G technology, and AI-native application deployments.
This comprehensive report outlines the SAN hardware market analysis by technology, deployment type, company type, and industry sector, providing forecasts from 2024 to 2030.
