Financial firms, manufacturers and local govts buy into sector
The turnover of China's data storage and management market has hit $2 billion as more companies embrace the idea of big data, a new way of processing statistics, said Adrian Chan, Greater China president of NetApp Inc, a United States-based data management company
He added his company is expanding in second- and third-tier cities to enlarge market share in the country.
"As increasing numbers of Chinese companies accumulate large amounts of statistics and want to explore the added-value of these resources, a big data solution will become a natural choice for them," said Chan.
China is expected to become the world's top big data market in the coming years with the turnover of the sector hitting 5 billion yuan ($803 million) by 2016, according to An Hui, director of CCID Group, a think tank under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Data storage is the foundation of cloud computing and big data technologies. Companies all over the globe have realized they are going to need better data solutions to reduce operating expenses.
The trend is especially clear when the economy is not in the best of shape, said Chan.
NetApp's global net revenue grew from $3.5 billion in 2009 to $6.2 billion in 2012, according to the US financial website CNNMoney.com.
"The economic downturn was an opportunity for us because companies were forced to look for ways to cut their budgets while at the same time their data accumulation was mounting, so our products will provide a timely solution for such companies," according to Chan.
Busiest line in Beijing: Subway line 10 has reached a daily transportation of 1 million passengers on average