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EMC Wheels Out Ford: Page 2 of 3

But while SRDF might be both effective and fast, it is also quite pricey. The software can cost from $60,000 to $150,000, and it can only be purchased with a Symmetrix storage array, which costs anywhere from $100,000 to millions of dollars. Ford has more than 500 terabytes of data stored on Symmetrix systems -- no small investment. Pace, however, says that the value of the system far outweighs the cost.

“We had about a dozen customers in the [World Trade Center] towers on September 11,” she says. “All of their information was saved by being sent to remote locations.”

According to Pace, Ford chose the SRDF software because of its reliability and because of EMC’s long track record of developing and implementing disaster recovery solutions.

“EMC invented SRDF as early as 1993,” she says, “after the first attack on the World Trade Center.”

Despite EMC's promotion of Ford's choice, Pace acknowledges that Ford was a longstanding EMC customer prior to the SRDF installation. While she can't say exactly how long the relationship has been in place, she says it takes a considerable length of time to build up 500 terabytes of EMC storage.