EMC May Get New De-Dupe, Clustering

EMC is reaching out for help in the areas of de-duplication and enterprise file serving, according to industry reports.

In a note to clients yesterday, analyst Thomas Curlin of RBC Capital Markets wrote that his sources expect EMC to shortly announce an OEM partnership with Quantum.

"We suspect this is a move by EMC to compete more effectively versus Data Domain," Curlin wrote.

Rumors of an EMC/Quantum deal have been circling for weeks. A Quantum SEC filing in January notes the following: "On January 25, 2008, Quantum entered into an agreement with a major OEM, under which the OEM will license Quantum's DXi-Series data de-duplication and replication enterprise software to deliver its own solution. Under the terms of the agreement, Quantum cannot provide further details at this time."

At least one industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, thinks EMC will add Quantum's de-duplication technology to the EMC Disk Library (EDL), formerly known as the Clariion Disk Library, or CDL. There has also been speculation that EMC will rebrand Quantum's DXi7500 as a new VTL.Either way, if EMC does a fresh de-dupe deal, it would do so despite already having an OEM agreement with FalconStor that includes de-duplication. Another de-dupe OEM deal would also go outside EMC's Avamar offering, which has its own de-duplication.

The anonymous source cited above says EMC's relationship with FalconStor has been wobbly, but the reason is not clear. Avamar, the source says, hasn't provided de-duplication in the way EMC wants to offer it for the EDL.

But another industry source thinks the adoption of another de-duplication technology doesn't mean EMC is done with FalconStor. "One vendor's expanding relationship does not mean the demise of another," says Greg Schulz of the StorageIO Group. "A good example is the story that Sun was dumping FalconStor for Diligent, yet Diligent was simply a reseller services deal for specific needs while FalconStor continues to be an OEM option for [Sun] VTL." (See Sun Will Resell Diligent De-Duplication.)

Quantum and Diligent products are already resold by EMC as part of its EMC Select reseller program.

An EMC spokesman refused to comment on the Quantum rumor. "Regarding our relationship with FalconStor, we have a very successful relationship and don't expect to see any change to that," he stated.Neither FalconStor nor Quantum responded to inquiries about a potential arrangement at press time.

Meanwhile, EMC may be looking for help in another area as well. Curlin's note yesterday indicates that the vendor's longstanding partnership with Ibrix, which is also an EMC Select partner, may be coming into a new phase: "While EMC has its own internally developed cluster-file system project, codenamed Maui, it appears they have re-engaged Ibrix as a hedge to problems they have encountered with Maui," wrote Curlin. "Apparently, both Maui and Ibrix will be capable of operating on the Hulk hardware platform, however our sources believe the Maui solution has not performed to expectations."

Ibrix could go to market with Maui, Curlin thinks, but be displaced once EMC's own solution is in order.

Neither EMC nor Ibrix had comments on the situation at press time. Stay tuned for more on these situations as developments unfold.

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