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YottaYotta Adds to Saga

A small puff of signal smoke has gathered over grid computing's silent startup, YottaYotta -- and this time, the source may be more than incinerated cash.

EMC has acknowledged, in a backhanded way, investing in the Edmonton, Alberta-based YottaYotta. Early this week, in a job posting on the Website of personnel consultancy BrassRing, EMC noted that its newly formed Grid Business Unit will be based on technology from the acquisition of Acxiom Corp. and its investment in the distributed caching technology of YottaYotta.

While confirming its investment in YottaYotta, EMC would not comment on when or how much it has invested in the startup since its founding in January 2000. Indeed, once EMC PR saw the want ad, the wording was revised to eliminate mention of the startup. But one source, who worked at YottaYotta for awhile, says the investment is likely small and that it took place early this year.

"EMC has not disclosed the amount, but I would guess it's not more than a couple of million dollars," says analyst William Hurley of the Data Mobility Group. He believes the investment took place around January 2006.

Hurley, who worked as an information architect at YottaYotta for two years between 2001 and 2003, says it's reasonable to ask whether EMC would buy YottaYotta, but he doesn't think it's likely at present. "The technology works, but the manageability is still immature," he notes.

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