Coldago offers fresh trio of file storage maps

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French storage research house Coldago has released a 2025 file storage map report and, as it did a year ago, produced three separate supplier rating maps within it: Enterprise File Storage, Cloud File Storage, and High Performance File Storage.

Philippe Nicolas.

A Coldago map, created by lead analyst Philipe Nicolas, positions vendors in four columns ranged along a vision and strategy axis from the left (Niches) through Specialists and Challengers to Leaders (right). There is a vertical axis running from low to high, which rates execution and capabilities. A horizontal axis rates vision amd strategy. The most favorable positions for suppliers in a category are high and to the right.

The 2025 edition evaluated 29 distinct vendors and the leading suppliers in each of the reports, and in alphabetical order are:

  • Enterprise File Storage: Arctera (now represented by the InfoScale entity within Cloud Software Group), Dell, Huawei, IBM, Microsoft, NetApp, Pure Storage and Vast Data; 8 in total.
  • Cloud File Storage: CTERA, Hammerspace, Nasuni and Panzura; 4 in total.
  • High-Performance File Storage: DDN, Dell, Hammerspace, Huawei, IBM, Pure Storage, Qumulo, VAST Data and WEKA. 9 overall.

We can compare last year and this year’s reports to see how supplier rankings have changed. Here are the two enterprise file storage charts;

Get full size images here.

Not a lot has changed, although Arctera has entered this chart for the first time, and as a leader. NetApp has been downgraded slightly in Execution and Capabilities terms, with Huawei being upgraded, as has VAST Data, and in Vision and Strategy as well . TrueNAS and iXsystems are the same supplier; just different names. It’s notable that HPE is not represented in this map at all.

Next, the pair of Cloud File Storage charts;

Get full size images here.

Amongst the Leaders, Panzura has fallen back while Hammerspace has risen. LucidLink and Peer Software have been promoted from Specialists, joining Egnyte in the Challengers section, where Resilio is a new entrant.

Finally, here are the High-Performance File Storage maps;

Get full size images here.

There has been a little bit more action in the High Performance File Storage area, as Quantum has been demoted from a Leader to a Challenger, and Hammerspace uprated from a Challenger to a Leader. There are more changes in the Leaders ranks, where DDN still leads, but VAST Data has leap-frogged IBM into second place, and Pure Storage has done the same to Dell, achieving the sixth rank.

The report’s contents are:

  • Market, Products and Technology Trends
  • List of Vendors and Products
  • The Coldago Index
  • The Coldago Map
  • Vendors Details
  • Future Directions
  • Criteria and Methodologies
  • Vendors to watch, added and dropped
  • Map Definition
  • Conclusion

You can purchase the document (€7,990) by emailing [email protected]. The lead analyst at Coldago is Philippe Nicolas.