Earlier this year I hinted at big things ahead for Dell storage in 2008 – let me quickly recap:
We introduced some major firsts:
— The PowerVault DL2000 – the industry’s first integrated disk-to-disk (D2D) based solution that automates, simplifies and speeds up backup and recovery;
— The PowerVault MD1120 – our first storage expansion enclosure designed with small form factor (2.5-inch) disk drives that consume less space and power.
We beat HP to the punch with our acquisition of EqualLogic long before their planned acquisition of LeftHand Networks.
And we continued the simplification of IT in storage:
— We simplified de-duplication;
— We simplified disaster recovery;
— We simplified virtualization in a virtualization blockbuster including our storage products and solutions.
Today, we have more exciting storage news to share as we continue to build out a strong product portfolio going into 2009.
The goal remains the same: providing our customers with the products, solutions and services that deliver on the promise of Simple, Capable and Affordable storage.
Dell and EMC have created the most successful partnership in our industry based upon our mutual and laser like focus on the customers. Today we’re announcing that we are building on that commitment via an extension and an expansion of our partnership.
We have mutually agreed to extend and expand our partnership through 2013. In addition, starting early next year, we will be adding a new product under the Dell/EMC brand – the Dell/EMC Celerra NX4, which provides customers a unified storage solution supporting network-attached storage (NAS), fiber channel (FC) and iSCSI storage in a single multi-protocol system.
Since we embarked on this journey with EMC in 2001, more than 60,000 Dell/EMC networked storage systems have shipped to tens of thousands of customers.
Michael is in New York today with EMC CEO Joe Tucci celebrating the extension and continued success of our partnership. Be sure to check back here soon for a video message on the news from Michael and Joe.
We're looking forward to 2009 and continuing to help our customers simplify and save on their storage operations. Please stay tuned.
Update: If you're interested in hearing more about the future, click over to Bruce's post on Inside IT that features an interview with Chuck Hollis, EMC's CTO.