EMC Makes Storage Simple for Mid-Sized Enterprises and SMBs

    High-Tech Editors
    CeBIT 2005

    HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2005--EMC Corporation, the world leader in information storage and management, today unveiled Making Storage Simple, a new and innovative customer-based approach that simplifies how mid-sized enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs) acquire, deploy and manage information.
    EMC's Making Storage Simple approach encompasses a wide range of innovative EMC systems, software and services expertise, designed to help hundreds of thousands of mid-sized enterprises and SMBs worldwide address the major challenges of explosive information growth and spiraling costs by more effectively storing, backing up, archiving and protecting their critical application data.
    Over the past three years, EMC has invested more than $6 billion in acquisitions and research and development that help these customers simply and cost-effectively address their most difficult business challenges. Mid-sized enterprises and SMBs are now facing the same information pressures as large enterprises, but without the luxury of large IT staffs and budgets. To help them more effectively meet their challenges, while removing complexity, EMC today is introducing a series of EMC Express Solutions comprised of the latest EMC hardware, software and services. The new turnkey solutions, based on EMC best practices, offer easy-to-deploy capabilities that ensure best-in-class storage implementations that are "future proofed" with the flexibility and scalability to meet changing business requirements and maximize return on investment.
    The EMC Express Solutions encompass EMC's industry-leading families of storage hardware, services and software from EMC and from its acquisitions over the last three years. The new solutions, offered by EMC's growing network of resellers and distributors, include:
    EMC Express Solutions for Networked Storage help customers lower storage costs through consolidation and improved centralized management. These solutions are available for direct attached storage (DAS), storage area network (SAN), network attached storage (NAS) and iSCSI (internet Small Computer Systems Interface) connectivity environments.
    EMC Express Solutions for Backup and Recovery help customers improve the reliability and speed of backup and recovery processes to ensure that data is readily available at all times.
    EMC Express Solutions for Archiving help customers reduce the overall cost of storing online data while complying with regulatory requirements. Utilizing a tiered storage architecture, automated data management software moves inactive files to more cost-effective storage while keeping all data available for search and retrieval.
    EMC Express Solutions for Business Protection help customers reduce business risk by enabling cost-effective remote copying of online and archived application data so that the data can be quickly accessed to recover from primary site outages.
    "The EMC Express Solutions combine good products, a trusted brand, turnkey packaging with services, and easy procurement," said Mike Fisch, Senior Analyst with The Clipper Group, technology acquisition consultants based in Wellesley, Massachusetts. "Mid-sized enterprises tend to be underserved, and we expect these solutions will be well received because they address the information storage problems faced by businesses of all sizes."
    David Goulden, EMC Executive Vice President, Customer Operations, added, "Making Storage Simple was created especially for customers in the mid-sized enterprise and SMB segments. The message from these customers was clear: - 'We want advanced functionality, at an affordable price, packaged for simple deployment.' The Express Solutions are purpose-built with these requirements in mind, and we've made it easier for our partners to deliver them. These customers don't simply want point products, they want a complete solution with a roadmap to support their future growth. Our global network of Velocity Partners can deliver these solutions to customers today and help them quickly deploy them to get fast returns on their investment with EMC."
    New EMC Resources Help Partners Custom Configure and Finance Express Solutions
    To help partners custom configure and deliver these Express Solutions, EMC has developed a new web-based tool that expedites the process of configuring and ordering them. Based on the customer's application environment, partners simply answer a short series of questions in the Express Solutions Wizard to automatically create and order a solution that is validated to satisfy that customer's requirements.
    EMC is also introducing its new Financing Made Simple options and online financial tools for Velocity Partners and authorized resellers. Using EMC's financial best-practices, partners are able to help customers quickly and easily secure funding for their total solution, including non-EMC equipment. The new program also includes a variety of special lease options and payment plans to fit the budgets of mid-sized and SMB customers.
    Over the past three years, the number of EMC resellers, distributors and other channel partners has more than tripled, and this is the latest investment to help make it easier for EMC and its partners to work together. In April, EMC will begin rolling out an enhanced Velocity Channel Partner program that provides a consistent set of training programs and incentives for all partners who offer EMC hardware, software and services.
    In addition to teaming with its Velocity Partners, EMC also has teamed with technology partners, including Cisco, Intel and Microsoft to ensure EMC Express Solutions take advantage of all of the features and functionality of these companies' leading technology and best practices.
    "We see mid-sized enterprises are turning to us to consolidate and simplify their technology infrastructures as well as improve their backup/recovery performance over the network," said Buck Gee, Vice President of Business Operations - Data Center Technology Group, Cisco Systems. "The EMC Express Solutions take advantage of Cisco's expertise in embedded network intelligence such as multiprotocol support, Virtual SANs and comprehensive security. Together we're offering customers a scalable, best-of-breed solution that allows them to cost effectively manage and scale their IT environments as business needs change."

    Pricing and Availability:

    The new EMC Express Solutions are available from authorized EMC resellers with pricing starting at $5,995.

    About EMC

    EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world leader in products, services and solutions for information storage and management that help organizations extract the maximum value from their information, at the lowest total cost, across every point in the information lifecycle. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.
    EMC is a registered trademark of EMC Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

    This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) risks associated with acquisitions and investments, including the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (vi) component and product quality and availability; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (ix) war or acts of terrorism; (x) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; and (xii) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EMC disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

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CONTACT: EMC Corporation Rick Lacroix (508) 293-7261 lacroix_rick@emc.com

KEYWORD: GERMANY INTERNATIONAL EUROPE TRACK INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE SOFTWARE NETWORKING TRADESHOW PRODUCT SOURCE: EMC Corporation

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