Competitors question cooperating with EMC software
In NEW YORK story headlined, "Competitors question
cooperating with EMC software," please read name in paragraphs
9, 10, and 11 "Lonchar" instead of "Lonchard." (Corrects
spelling)
A corrected version follows:
NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Executives at companies that
compete with storage industry leader EMC Corp. on Wednesday
said they doubt EMC's new automated storage software will be
supported by other storage equipment providers.
Speaking to investors at a Prudential technology
conference, executives from storage software maker Veritas
Software Corp. <VRTS.O> and data storage system maker Network
Appliance Inc. <NTAP.O> said they doubt EMC will get the
cooperation from its competitors that they said it needs to
make its new storage management software work.
EMC, which on Monday announced plans for a software product
that will enable customers to see and manage their storage
across the data center, said however that it doesn't
necessarily need cooperation from vendors.
EMC's new software aims to work with storage equipment made
by competitors, which include Compaq Computer Corp. <CPQ.N> and
International Business Machines Corp. <IBM.N>, within 90 days,
EMC has said.
But Network Appliance Chief Executive Dan Warmenhoven has
his doubts. Network Appliance makes low-cost to mid-range
storage computers that compete with EMC.
"I think EMC's strategy now is saying, we're going to move
now to managing everybody's else's storage. I'd like to see it
happen. I don't think it's going to happen. I just don't think
it's going to happen," Warmenhoven said.
He said, "I don't think anyone is going to cooperate
plugging into EMC's APIs." An API, or an application program
interface, is a language and message format used by an
application to communicate with a computer's operating system.
Meanwhile, Veritas Chief Financial Officer Ken Lonchar said
that based on conversations he'd had with competitors, he
believes EMC doesn't have the support of competing vendors for
what EMC is calling an open system.
"They're talking about heterogenous support of different
devices with their software, yet there were no partners in that
announcement," Lonchar said. "There's nothing emanating from
them."
In the end, Lonchar said, the technology could be a bit of
a double-edged sword for EMC, which is looking to diversify its
revenues away from hardware sales. Hardware sales have been
hurt this year by declining technology spending.
"It's a cool technology, although what happens when people
use that and they go out and see their storage utilization is
real low? They probably buy less hardware," Lonchar said.
EMC says it doesn't need vendor cooperation to make its
software work and that industry players will pressure vendors
to cooperate.
"We've already proven we don't necessarily need the vendor
cooperation," said Ken Steinhardt, EMC's director of technology
analysis. "It would just make life easier."
He said EMC's competitors will be pressured by data-storage
customers to cooperate with EMC and the rest of the industry.
As an example, he pointed out how customers pressured IBM
in the early 1990s to allow EMC to plug its Symmetrix storage
device into IBM mainframes. That move eventually allowed EMC to
overtake IBM as the world's top data-storage firm.
EMC's infrastructure program boasts cooperation from 87
companies, including some of its keenest rivals such as Veritas
Software and Hewlett-Packard Co. <HWP.N>
He said EMC spends about $250 million a year on its
interoperability program, which works to ensure compatibility
between servers, mainframes and storage hardware and software.
In all, EMC has invested $2 billion into this effort.
((Caroline Humer, New York Technology Desk, 1 646 223-6181,
caroline.humer@reuters.com))
REUTERS |
