EMC in part hopes to use the Windows-based box to regain share it has lost in the NAS market. In 2002, EMC's NAS revenue dropped 35 percent, and its overall market share fell 12 percent, according to Gartner Inc.
One thing is clear: The EMC/Microsoft deal affirms the ascendancy of Microsoft in the low-end to midtier NAS space -- and it leaves Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP) the odd man out as the last major NAS vendor that does not license Microsoft's operating system software. Dell, Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Iomega Corp., and others use Microsoft's Windows-Powered NAS for their NAS product lines.
Indeed, some Wall Street analysts believe NetApp should be very concerned about EMC's joining the Windows-Powered NAS camp. "Although it is still very early, the expanded EMC-Microsoft relationship with products sold through Dell could represent the start of the most serious competitive threat NetApp has ever faced," Conigliaro writes.
But the fact that EMC chose to license Microsoft's Windows-Powered NAS has given competitors a chance to knock EMC's existing Celerra technology as a monolithic piece of software that it couldn't scale down.
"EMC is saying, for a certain profile of customer, their proprietary NAS doesn't cut it," says Mark Nagaitis, director of product marketing for HP's storage infrastructure and NAS division. He adds, though, that EMC has "validated" Windows as an enterprise-class platform.
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By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
