The global market for Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions -- the use of software and hardware to store, organize, retrieve and distribute the world's exploding volume of digital media files -- exceeded $330 million in 2007.
A new market study from ABI Research forecasts that figure to top $1 billion in 2013. What is behind this robust growth?
"There are a number of factors acting together to drive the Digital Asset Management market," says industry analyst Zippy Aima. "Apart from the sheer dramatic increase in the amount of digital media assets, one important driver is the need for different departments of an organization to have a seamless workflow in handling the same library of digital content."
"Many vendors are talking about how their solutions address the need for smooth workflow collaboration," Aima adds. "DAM systems no longer operate in a silo environment, and the solutions available in the market today can tightly integrate with third-party applications and systems already existing in an organization."
While DAM is now found across a range of enterprises including government, finance, education, retail, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors, it got its start in print production, moved on to marketing departments and ad agencies and is now -- spurred on by the extremely rapid growth in video content available online -- being adopted in the media and entertainment industries.
The DAM vendor landscape is fragmented, and includes names such as HP, EMC, and Microsoft which have broad product offerings. But it is also a market for tightly focused players such as North Plains, Vfinity and ADAM Systems, among others.
Some arrived in the market by acquiring existing DAM vendors, others have always focused on this segment. Some offer software-only solutions, others incorporate hardware as well (making it easier to offer end-to-end solutions), and there is a small but growing move (especially suitable at the entry level) towards providing DAM as a managed service.
A new market study from ABI Research forecasts that figure to top $1 billion in 2013. What is behind this robust growth?
"There are a number of factors acting together to drive the Digital Asset Management market," says industry analyst Zippy Aima. "Apart from the sheer dramatic increase in the amount of digital media assets, one important driver is the need for different departments of an organization to have a seamless workflow in handling the same library of digital content."
"Many vendors are talking about how their solutions address the need for smooth workflow collaboration," Aima adds. "DAM systems no longer operate in a silo environment, and the solutions available in the market today can tightly integrate with third-party applications and systems already existing in an organization."
While DAM is now found across a range of enterprises including government, finance, education, retail, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors, it got its start in print production, moved on to marketing departments and ad agencies and is now -- spurred on by the extremely rapid growth in video content available online -- being adopted in the media and entertainment industries.
The DAM vendor landscape is fragmented, and includes names such as HP, EMC, and Microsoft which have broad product offerings. But it is also a market for tightly focused players such as North Plains, Vfinity and ADAM Systems, among others.
Some arrived in the market by acquiring existing DAM vendors, others have always focused on this segment. Some offer software-only solutions, others incorporate hardware as well (making it easier to offer end-to-end solutions), and there is a small but growing move (especially suitable at the entry level) towards providing DAM as a managed service.