High-end storage systems market leader EMC was one of the companies worst hit by the slowdown in IT spending in its latest financial quarter – but the company was also hammered by fierce competition from Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and IBM. The company announced that revenues were cut in half to $1.3 billion in the three months to 31 March, resulting in a loss of $77 million.

CEO Joe Tucci pointed to the fact that a large proportion of EMC's customers remain cautious about making new purchases. Others suggested many of its customers have already bought more capacity than they currently need and are looking to make more efficient use of existing storage through consolidation and other initiatives, before purchasing any new systems.

On top of that, an ongoing price war between EMC and its main rivals, IBM and HDS, has cut revenues and margins.