IBM today announced that it continues to lead in the 2004 storage services marketplace based on revenue throughout Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and Japan, according to a recent Gartner annual report on the worldwide storage services segment. IBM maintains its leadership position from the previous year in the storage service marketplace which was, as stated by Gartner, measured to be worth more than $22 billion in 2004 and represents as much as a $30 billion opportunity by 2008. The compounding deluge of data, growing complexity of storage technology, escalating IT management costs, and increasing strain on internal resources, are driving the need for more efficient and cost-effective ways to maximize and manage server and storage infrastructures. IBM storage services help clients dramatically reduce complexity by assisting them with their storage management needs, providing them with the ability to concentrate on primary business goals by helping them to meet data performance and availability requirements on an as-needed basis. "Dealing with the ever-increasing data avalanche is one of the most important challenges businesses are faced with today. IBM customers are leveraging our information on demand technology and storage services to help them manage the flood of information," said Sergei Varbanov, storage services global offering executive, IBM Global Services. "Our storage services help enable, integrate, analyze, optimize and manage on demand business infrastructures -- increasing the business value of IT for our customers and delivering the right information at the right time." IBM storage services include the combined power of IBM Global Services, IBM Systems and Technology Group, IBM Tivoli software, and IBM Research providing customers with a comprehensive set of storage solutions including business continuity and recovery services, infrastructure and systems management services, networking services, technical support and IT education services. According to Gartner, IBM is projected to maintain marketplace leadership as one of the top storage service vendors through 2008. Information on Demand The desire by businesses to access, manage, deliver and secure information more efficiently is driving rapid change in the IT marketplace. Traditional low-tech, hardware-only approaches by proprietary vendors are meeting with resistance as companies grappling with new government mandates and business demands strive to capture and integrate information in a more seamless, real-time fashion across the enterprise. IBM's information on demand approach combines deep business insight with open standards, advanced storage systems, and sophisticated software for information, security and IT system management to create cost effective and flexible information infrastructures. Regardless of industry, IBM helps companies transform data into insight to enable information on demand.