The battle for market share in the storage industry is likely to intensify as EMC Corp. reportedly prepares to launch the latest version of its high-end storage system, Symmetrix, next month. The anticipated February release of the Symmetrix product will be the first update to the line since 2000.
The company recently sent out e-mails to select press inviting them to a live event with EMC’s president and CEO Joe Tucci in New York on Feb. 3. Unnamed industry onlookers expect EMC will unveil the specifications of version 6.0 of Symmetrix that time.
Last month in an interview Mark Lewis, EMC’s CTO, Lewis explained that the company has been saying for many quarters that it intends to revamp its entire line of products. And with the complete rehaul of the modular Clariion line last year, and the recent introduction of the Centera line, the Symmetrix update is about the only logical conclusion say many onlookers.
Prototypically, EMC would not comment on the activities and announcements scheduled for Feb. 2, nor address the rumours of a forthcoming Symmetrix.
Last month Lewis said this has been the best product cycle EMC’s ever had.
“I think this (refresh of our lines) makes us so competitive across all of the product lines,” he added. “We will not only be competitive in our existing kind of array and traditional product lines, but we’re also moving into the new areas.”
Meanwhile it is also expected that sometime this year IBM Corp. will unveil its much hyped and anticipated ‘Storage Tank’ software, a suite of storage software tools designed to permit data sharing amongst network devices from different vendors.
The company can be found on the Web at www.emc.com.
