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EMC Takes The Offensive In The Storage Wars: Page 5 of 5

On the Symmetrix side, EMC is encouraging the movement of customers from their current DMX products to the VMAX products. FAST VP will not only facilitate but also automate tiering, which improves performance and saves costs. Federated Live Migration makes the transition from DMX to VMAX more attractive and aids that movement. Moreover, keeping up with explosive data growth without increasing headcount will likely require the movement to the cloud and automation, federation and virtualization.

On the unified storage side, VNX is a bold move. On the low end, VNXe represents a more attractive option than Clariion AX as it has more capabilities that might prove attractive to the entry-level market. This Swiss army knife approach (you want it, we can do it) makes it easier for selling partners to meet customer needs.

On the midrange side, VNX is more suited to the world of virtualization than the products that it is replacing, and also doesn't require a customer to declare fealty to either the block or file side of the house. Whichever way the market blows (say, file or block), EMC can meet the need. EMC was not the original proponent of unified storage, but it is alert to what the market demands. It has laid down the gauntlet to its unified storage competitors, and forces competitors that have separate block- and file-based systems to question their need to have something other than unified storage.

EMC's competitors are going to have to issue a call to arms. They may fire short-term salvos, but they are going to have to spend some time thinking about their competitive counter-offensives. Watching the competitive counter-attacks should make for a continuing storage war. Whatever happens, customers are likely to continue to get greater price/performance (however measured) from their storage investments.

EMC is currently a client of David Hill and the Mesabi Group.