IDC's Worldwide Storage and Computing Infrastructure Software Platforms Taxonomy, 2026

PUBLISHED: March 4, 2026

PAGES: 39 Pages

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Description

This IDC taxonomy document provides a detailed description of our storage and computing infrastructure software platforms (SCISP) research coverage. It defines the functional markets and submarkets that make up IDC's SCISP program, including core coverage areas of storage software and physical and virtual computing software.For 2026, this taxonomy introduces the private cloud market as an additional program scope, representing the aggregate market for infrastructure hardware and software used to build and operate dedicated cloud environments. This document defines the three contributing layers of the private cloud market, infrastructure hardware, infrastructure software, and experience/operations/management software, along with the seven qualifying attributes that distinguish private cloud from other deployment models.

Product Code: US53462126

IDC's Worldwide Storage and Computing Infrastructure Software Platforms Taxonomy

Storage and Computing Infrastructure Software Platforms Taxonomy Changes for 2026

Taxonomy Overview

Definitions

Markets
- Core SCISP markets
  - Physical and virtual computing software
    - Operating system environments
    - Core operating systems
    - Embedded/real-time operating systems
  - Storage software
    - Archiving software
    - Email archiving software
    - File and other archiving software
    - Storage infrastructure and device management software
    - Storage resource management and heterogeneous SAN management software
    - Storage resource management and homogeneous SAN management software
    - Storage device management software
    - Virtualization and federation software
    - Host-based file systems and volume management software
    - Storage access and path management software
    - Automated storage tiering software
    - Storage acceleration software
    - Other storage management and infrastructure software
    - Software-defined storage controller software
    - Block-based software-defined storage controller software
    - File-based software-defined storage controller software
    - Object-based software-defined storage controller software
    - Hyperconverged software-defined storage controller software
    - Other computing and storage software
    - Container data and infrastructure management software
- Private cloud market
  - Market composition
  - Qualifying attributes
  - Inclusion/exclusion criteria
    - Inclusion criteria:
    - Exclusion criteria:
- Adjacent SCISP markets (for private cloud market analysis)
  - Storage software
    - Data protection software
  - Physical and virtual computing software
    - Software-defined compute
  - Network software
    - Network infrastructure software
  - Systems and service management
    - Private cloud market relevance
    - IT operations management
    - IT automation and configuration management
    - Workload management
    - Datacenter system and application control
    - IT service management
  - Enterprise infrastructure technology segments
    - Private cloud market relevance
    - Technology segments
  - Network infrastructure technology segments
    - Private cloud market relevance
    - Application delivery controllers
    - Ethernet switch
    - Fibre channel switch
    - InfiniBand switch
    - Software-defined networking controllers
- Terms