EMC and Microsoft Expand Partnership

EMC Corporation and Microsoft Corporation have extended their strategic business and technology relationship for storage. The broader and deeper agreement &#151 unveiled today by Joe Tucci, EMC’s President and CEO, and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Corp’s CEO, at the annual EMC Technology Summit &#151 involves tighter collaboration and integration of networked storage technologies and offerings.

Included in the expanded licensing and technology agreement are: integration of Windows storage technologies, new marketing and sales initiatives, and new service and support agreements. The results of these efforts will be improved manageability and seamless integration of Windows technology in automated networked storage environments.

The initial focus of the expanded agreement includes the following: EMC will integrate Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003 storage APIs (VSS, VDS, MPIO) with its storage platform functionality. This tight integration will provide a consistent Windows interface to advanced storage functionality, allowing customers to extend their use of Windows in automated networked storage environments. Additionally, through the adoption of Microsoft’s storage APIs, EMC will integrate its ControlCenter open storage management applications, enabling customers to better manage large-scale Windows deployments in the enterprise. &#149EMC and Microsoft will work together to define best practices and reference implementations for open storage management based on the emerging storage management standards. &#149EMC will license Microsoft’s Windows Powered NAS software as the basis for a new family of EMC NAS products (see separate press release). &#149 Both companies will collaborate to deliver compatibility of Windows-based products with EMC’s Celerra NAS family. This effort will provide customers with a broad, scalable family of NAS solutions and assure compatibility of EMC’s Celerra with future Microsoft releases. &#149EMC and Microsoft will enter into a cooperative support agreement to ensure mutual support methodologies for enterprise deployments of EMC products in Windows environments. &#149The companies will initiate joint sales and marketing efforts to educate customers on the benefit of integrated Microsoft and EMC technology in networked storage environments and drive adoption of EMC’s Windows Powered NAS solutions. &#149EMC and Microsoft have signed a license agreement under Microsoft’s Communication Protocol Licensing Program (MCPP) to enable protocol interoperability between EMC’s networked storage devices and Windows client PCs.

Joe Tucci, EMC President and CEO, said, “This agreement combines the power of Microsoft’s presence in industry standard platforms with EMC’s unmatched strength in automated networked storage. Our two organizations bring impressive synergies, talent and resources to bear on helping customers across the globe reduce costs and simplify the management of their increasingly complex networked storage environments.”

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, added, “Microsoft is making significant investments in Windows Server 2003 to improve the management, reliability, and interoperability of storage systems in a Windows environment. Our partnership with EMC will broaden the usage of key Windows Server 2003 based storage technologies and Windows Powered NAS to provide end-to-end enterprise class storage solutions that scale, are easier to manage, and deliver higher service levels, thus reducing risk and improving customers’ return on investment.”