EMC Lets Clariion Out of the Bag

Calling it the worst-kept secret in the world,” EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) CEO Joe Tucci today confirmed that EMC and Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL)
will deliver new Clariion product aimed at a lower level of the market than any of their current SAN offerings.

“Probably the worst-kept secret in the world is we are coming out with a lower-end Clariion,” Tucci said in a keynote talk at a technology investment symposium hosted by Goldman Sachs & Co.

Byte and Switch reported last week that Dell and EMC would deliver co-branded entry-level Clariion systems aimed at small-to-medium-business (SMBs) later this year (see Dell & EMC Prep Low-End SAN). Dell VP Russ Holt last week told analysts that Dell would manufacture what he called a “sub-entry” SAN platform, but did not identify it as part of the Clariion platform that EMC and Dell co-brand.

Tucci says EMC and Dell will also offer low-end NAS systems, which could help both eat away at Network Appliance Inc.'s (Nasdaq: NTAP) NAS dominance. While Dell co-brands Clariion SANs and resells EMC’s higher-end Symmetrix SANs, it markets its own low-end NAS platform.

“The low-end Clariion product -- which has been much written about -- is going to be extremely important to Dell, and that could put NAS at a price point that is really in Dell’s wheelhouse,” Tucci says.