EMC Deal Shows Storage Evolution

Top networked storage vendor EMC will expand its support for Windows servers and will adopt Windows in a new product line. Networked storage—centralized storage in external disk arrays accessed over a high-speed network—can help reduce storage management costs and improve availability and disaster recovery. EMC’s expanded alliance with Microsoft will give organizations using Windows more networked storage options. The deal also illustrates a trend toward standardization, which could make networked storage less expensive and more widely used.

More Support for Windows

Under the agreement, which was announced by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and EMC CEO Joseph Tucci at the Apr. 2003 EMC Technology Summit, EMC will take two steps to support Windows servers:

Support Windows Server 2003 APIs for SANs. EMC will support Windows Server 2003 APIs, such as Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and the Virtual Disk Service, in its storage area network (SAN) products. SANs—networked storage arrays that essentially act as virtual disk volumes—are the backbone of EMC’s product line. By supporting the new VSS API, EMC will enable Microsoft applications that use that API, such as Exchange 2003, to exploit features of its Symmetrix and Clariion SAN products, such as snapshot backup (which enables rapid backup of entire storage volumes). This could help Windows shops make effective use of EMC’s high-end storage products.