EMC Upgrades Hardware; Partner, Dell, Aims At Enterprise: Page 2 of 2

The storage company introduced a new generation of CLARiiON CX systems--300, 500, and 700 series--all of which are available as new models or as upgrades to existing CLARiiON systems. Dell's announcement mirrored EMC's: it unveiled its Dell/EMC CX300, -500, and -700. Aberdeen's Hill said Dell appears to be "relentless" in improving the price-performance of its systems in its campaign to expand its presence in the enterprise. Dell said it has an online storage-consolidation tool that assists users in calculating their return on investment in moving from direct attached storage (DAS) to NAS or storage area network (SAN) infrastructures.

While EMC trumpeted its announcement as being comprehensive, Hill said it is essentially a hardware upgrade, albeit an important one. EMC's major announcements in the past year have been about its software acquisitions of Legato, Documentum, and VMware. Hill said Monday's announcements represent pieces in the larger mosaic of what EMC calls its commitment to its ILM strategy.