EMC's Technology Revolution

The Symmetrix V-MAX scales up to 2 PB of usable protected capacity and has been intentionally designed for the era of the Virtual Data Center

The Future of Virtualization

A technology revolution that has swept through the server industry over the past three years is now poised to transform the storage industry.

“Virtualisation”, a technique that uses spare capacity on a server to create “virtual machines”, each able to run its own separate operating system and application environment, is being adopted to make more efficient use of computer storage.

EMC, the world’s largest maker of storage systems and software, is betting such a sea change is coming to its core business. With Tuesday’s introduction of the Symmetrix V-Max system, EMC is offering what it claims to be the first management system to support high-end virtual data centres.

The system will allow customers with enormous storage needs to more easily and efficiently manage and expand their systems, the company says. It will also allow customers to expand their storage systems as needed without disrupting operations. “The general virtualisation trend continues to gain momentum,” said Barb Robidoux, EMC vice-president.

EMC’s system will allow multiple data centres to be run as if they were one, bringing greater control to typically unwieldy storage networks. More than 30 companies have already been testing the system, including UniCredit Group, one of Europe’s leading banks, and Microsoft’s adCenter.

EMC is trying to solidify its position as the leader in the storage industry. While the company still has the largest share of this market, it is jockeying with IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell to offer a new generation of unified server, data and networking systems.

Data storage has historically been a tedious and at times inefficient process for large companies and governments. The need to maintain multiple storage units has created inefficiencies and complications, resulting in service disruptions and other headaches for IT departments.

Steve Duplessie, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, said the Symmetrix V-Max is likely to streamline workflows for IT departments, make problems easier to identify and solve. “With virtualisation, you can get the function of a lot of machines but control it from one machine,” he said. “That hasn’t happened in storage.”

Mr Duplessie said EMC’s rivals were probably working on similar offerings. “Everybody is going to move down this path,” he said.