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EMC Delivers new levels of performance, capacity and protection for customers' most critcal information

Announcement posted by EMC 01 Aug 2003

Announces new Symmetrix DMX systems, major new software and connectivity advancements to help customers maximise the value of information resources
Less than six months after delivering the most significant high-end storage advancements in more than a decade - the Symmetrix DMX series of information storage systems - EMC Corporation today unveiled the next major wave of Symmetrix DMX systems, software and related technologies. Symmetrix DMX is enabling customers to keep pace with their increasingly complex and demanding high-end workloads and benefit from new ways to lower both their storage acquisition and operational costs.
David Donatelli, EMC Executive Vice President, Storage Platforms Operations, said, "Customers are telling us with a loud and clear voice: Information is not a commodity. Nearly all companies have a critical set of information that demands the highest service levels. The value that information can deliver back to the business is only as good as the storage environment it lives in. Today's announcements clearly show how Symmetrix DMX systems and software remain the best equipped to serve customers' high-end storage requirements."
Today's Symmetrix DMX announcements include:
Symmetrix DMX3000 - The new top-end Symmetrix DMX system satisfies the most demanding high-performance, high-functionality and high-capacity consolidation requirements by delivering predictably high performance for large-scale dynamic workloads. With up to 576 drives for a maximum raw capacity of more than 84TB and usable capacities of up to 73.5TB, Symmetrix DMX delivers twice the capacity and up to twice the performance for certain applications compared with the Symmetrix DMX2000. The new Symmetrix DMX3000 takes advantage of the full range of Symmetrix DMX functionality and provides customers with linear performance scalability delivered through the Symmetrix Direct Matrix Architecture.
Entry-level Symmetrix DMX800 configuration - A new entry-level configuration of the modular rack-mounted Symmetrix DMX800 carries all the attributes of a full Symmetrix DMX system with a starting price that is 30 per cent lower than the previous entry-level Symmetrix DMX800. The Symmetrix DMX800 system has reshaped conventional notions of how high-end storage systems are purchased and deployed. Raw capacities for the new configuration scale from 580GB to more than 17TB.
Non-disruptive Operations - Symmetrix DMX and the Enginuity operating environment deliver the ability to upgrade, reconfigure and service storage resources without disrupting host applications. With the newest version of Enginuity, Symmetrix DMX now becomes the only high-end storage system to provide online, non-disruptive capabilities without requiring additional hardware and/or software on attached hosts.
New Advanced Replication (see separate release attached) - EMC, the industry's longstanding leader in replication solutions, announced two innovative new software products and advanced connectivity that help high-end storage customers reduce cost, extend distances and increase the number of local and remote replications they can create to support continuous business operations. EMC announced:
- SRDF/A(tm), the world's highest-performing extended-distance replication software.
- EMC Snap(tm), the world's only space-saving local replication software for high- end storage.
- Native Gigabit Ethernet SRDF connectivity for Symmetrix DMX systems, which reduces hardware and transmission costs by enabling remotereplications without costly channel conversion devices.
Native iSCSI (see separate release attached) - While Fibre Channel has become the storage interconnect of choice in data centres, a large population of servers still exist for which the cost of Fibre Channel has been a barrier to consolidation on a SAN. With announcement of the world's first native iSCSI connectivity for high-end storage, EMC now provides customers with a low-cost method for consolidating and networking these previously stranded servers. In enterprise environments, where hundreds or even thousands of such servers may exist, iSCSI delivers the value of networked storage without the cost of host bus adapters and Fibre Channel switch ports. Through native iSCSI integration, Symmetrix DMX enables customers to realise the benefits of IP storage networks without requiring them to replace their existing storage infrastructures. iSCSI is implemented through the new Multi-protocol Channel Director, enabling customers to mix and match iSCSI, FICON and Gigabit Ethernet SRDF connectivity ports within any Symmetrix DMX system on a single board.
Enhanced Mainframe Compatibility and Innovation - The Symmetrix DMX series now offers enhanced compatibility with the IBM mainframe feature set. EMC today announced a Symmetrix DMX-based implementation of IBM's XRC Version 3 replication software. EXRC enables IBM XRC customers to deploy Symmetrix DMX series systems as either a source or target storage system with no disruption to their existing replication solution. Additional new Symmetrix DMX mainframe features include enhanced support for IBM's Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS) clustering and failover solution, and support for the TPF operating environment. EMC also enhanced customers' mainframe environments with additional innovative capabilities such as the world's highest-performance 2Gb FICON connectivity, advanced replication through SRDF/A and EMC Snap software, and a new entry point for high-end mainframe storage with the new entry-level Symmetrix DMX800 configuration.
In addition, Symmetrix DMX now supports Fibre Channel connectivity to IBM iSeries servers, offering the OS/400 community an alternate source for storage consolidation
Ronald Williams, EarthLink's Senior Manager, Infrastructure Operations Architecture, said, "Our network benefits from the maximum strength delivered through EMC's high-end storage. Symmetrix DMX is ideal for those instances where we need absolute uptime assurance, top performance under any load, and the ability to scale performance linearly with the architecture. Our benchmarking has shown that Symmetrix DMX runs certain functions six times faster than other systems. This dramatic acceleration has reduced some of our batch windows from eight hours down to four and sped up our back up process by 300 per cent. Our billing operations are running faster, ensuring we can invoice our growing customer base in a timely manner. Our massive data warehouse queries are processed more quickly, which allows business users to analyse and solve business problems faster."
Nick Allen, Vice President and Research Director, Gartner, said, "Customers continue to push the limits across all segments of the storage market. We've seen significant market movement and a surge of new requirements over the last 12-18 months, particularly at the high end. Customer sophistication is on the rise, while the vendor community is responding with multi-dimensional scalability, connectivity and replication advancements."
The Symmetrix DMX series is based on the revolutionary Direct Matrix Architecture(tm) , which has set a new trajectory for scalability, performance, availability, functionality and affordability. Combined with the power of EMC's open software offerings, the new Symmetrix DMX systems and software extend EMC's lead in helping customers benefit from the full value of automated networked storage.
Pricing and Availability
All products announced today will be available in September 2003. U.S. list price for the Symmetrix DMX800 now starts at $US284,000; starting list price for a Symmetrix DMX3000 is $US1.7 million. Software list prices are based on capacity tiers. SRDF/A prices begin at $US20,000. EMC Snap prices begin at $US33,000.
About EMC
EMC Corporation is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing automated networked storage solutions that enable organisations of all sizes to better and more cost-effectively manage, protect and share their information. More
information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.
EMC2, EMC, Symmetrix, AutoIS, Celerra, CLARiiON and SRDF are registered trademarks and EMC Automated Networked Storage, EMC ControlCenter, EMC Snap, Connectrix, Direct Matrix, Direct Matrix Architecture, E-Lab, Enginuity, Symmetrix DMX, TimeFinder are trademarks of EMC Corporation. All other trademarks used herein are the 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) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings, and rapid technological and market change; (iv) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (v) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures; (vi) component quality and availability; (vii) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (viii) war or acts of terrorism; (ix) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (x) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xi) risks associated with strategic investments and acquisitions; 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.