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EMC Redefines Midrange Storage with New CLARiiON Architecture


WEBWIRE

Innovative EMC CLARiiON UltraScale Architecture and CLARiiON CX3 Systems Extend Midrange Storage Leadership and Deliver Unmatched Economics and Scalable Performance

Hopkinton, Mass.-Monday, May 8, 2006, EMC Corporation, the world leader in information management and storage, today introduced a breakthrough in midrange storage performance, scalability and economics with its new EMC® CLARiiON® UltraScale™ architecture and CX3 series of networked storage systems. The new CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series is designed from the ground up to support customers’ information lifecycle management (ILM) strategies by enabling the consolidation of multiple tiers of information onto a single array while optimizing performance and total cost of ownership.

EMC is the midrange storage market share and technology leader. The new EMC-developed CLARiiON UltraScale architecture – with 45 patents pending – builds on that leadership and is the storage industry’s first available platform with full end-to-end 4 gigabit-per-second (Gb/s) Fibre Channel technology. It features up to double the performance and capacity of its predecessor and enables customers to consolidate the workload of two competitive systems onto a single new CLARiiON CX3 system. The new architecture redefines midrange storage economics by allowing customers to seamlessly upgrade from prior generations of CLARiiON, run existing management and protection software and scale single system capacity and performance up to 239 terabytes (TBs). The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture simultaneously supports high-speed 2 and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives as well as high-capacity 2Gb/s Low-Cost Fibre Channel (LC/FC) disk drives for maximum flexibility and to enable the consolidation of multiple information and storage tiers onto a single array.

Additional features include:

* Industry-Leading Application Performance – CLARiiON UltraScale is the first midrange storage architecture to accelerate 4Gb/s scalability and data throughput with native multi-lane PCI Express interconnect technology. It features state-of-the-art central processing units (CPUs), up to 16 gigabytes of memory and low-latency, high-bandwidth 4Gb/s host and disk interfaces. It is also capable of replicating data up to 30% faster using EMC SnapView™, EMC MirrorView™ and EMC SAN Copy™ software.

* New Ease-of-Use Capabilities – The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture simplifies customer and partner replacement of disk drives, power supplies, cooling fans and small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical transceivers. A new Disk Replacement Utility wizard guides customers and partners through the process, checking each step to make sure data is protected. In the third quarter of 2006, EMC will add processes and utilities to enable qualified customers and partners to install CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series arrays. Customers and partners will also be able to add capacity into existing arrays online and also implement online upgrades of the CLARiiON FLARE™ operating environment.

* Increased Redundancy and Fault Tolerance – The modular design of the new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture sets new standards for resiliency and information availability. Customers are assured high levels of uptime through n+1+1 redundant power and cooling; improved fault detection; isolation and error-correction tasks; and the continued ability to conduct non-disruptive code upgrades. The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture builds on the EMC UltraPoint™ technology introduced in August 2005. The second generation of EMC UltraPoint, with its point-to-point design for disk drive fault detection and isolation, now includes patent-pending designs for reliable operation at demanding 4Gb/s speeds, faster drive accessibility on power-up, and flexible operation at 2Gb/s and 4Gb/s data rates.

* Unique Software Capabilities – The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture also features EMC’s Virtual LUN (logical unit number) technology that enables online movement of data from 2Gb/s to 4Gb/s Fibre Channel drives or 2Gb/s LC/FC disk drives within the array. Virtual LUN technology gives customers seamless ILM capabilities in a single array without impacting applications. Additionally, metaLUN capabilities enable customers to create a LUN that spans multiple RAID Groups and expand the size of the LUN dynamically when additional capacity is needed.

David Donatelli, EMC Executive Vice President, Storage Platforms Operations, said, “To provide customers and partners with leading midrange solutions, you fundamentally need a great architecture. The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture was specifically designed to deliver the industry’s best performance, throughput and scalability – eliminating the bottlenecks customers face with other midrange systems. It also delivers the best economics – allowing customers to consolidate application tiers onto a single array, leverage their existing software and training investments and mix-and-match the latest disk drive technology to meet their business needs. Any way you look at it, EMC is extending its leadership in the midrange storage market with this new breakthrough architecture.”

EMC CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale Series: Three Generations of Leading CLARiiON Technology

The new CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series of networked storage systems, the first based on the UltraScale architecture, can be configured for direct-attach and SAN deployments. iSCSI connectivity, along with NEBS (Network Equipment Building System) certification for use in public switched networks, will be available later this year. The new CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series includes dual-rate UltraPoint disk drive enclosures with an auto-sense capability that automatically configures an array for optimum operation. The new models include:

* CLARiiON CX3-20 – New Levels of Affordability and Ease-of-Use
The CLARiiON CX3-20 is ideal for mail/messaging, departmental applications and databases, Web services, distributed applications, remote replication and workgroup productivity. The CX3-20 supports both high-performance and high-capacity disk drives in the same system, can scale from 365GB to 59TB, and supports 128 high-availability hosts.

* CLARiiON CX3-40 – Industry-leading Price/Performance for Data Center Requirements
The CLARiiON CX3-40, which outperforms competitors’ largest midrange arrays at a more affordable price, is ideal for mail/messaging, heavy databases, transactional workloads, bandwidth applications, video streaming and remote replication. The CX3-40 can support 2Gb/s LC/FC disk drives, 2Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives in the same system, scale up to 119TB and supports 128 high-availability hosts.

* CLARiiON CX3-80 – Maximum Scalability, Flexibility and Performance
The CLARiiON CX3-80, the industry’s most powerful midrange storage array, is ideal for tiered storage, backup-to-disk and data warehousing. The CX3-80 can support 2Gb/s LC/FC disk drives, 2Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives in the same system, scale up to 239TB and supports 256 high-availability hosts.

Bryan Whitehead, Director of Information Technology at NewRiver Inc., a leading expert in compliance and disclosure technology for mutual funds, said, “EMC CLARiiON has been strategic to NewRiver’s IT infrastructure for several years. We expect the new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture will allow for even more efficient throughput of our core business applications and internal data transactions, and the new features of the CLARiiON CX3 series will provide the scalability and availability to help us continue to better manage, protect and consolidate our information as the business grows.”

Charles King, principal analyst for Pund-IT, Inc., said, “Midrange storage IT environments are getting more complex and controlling costs is a major priority. EMC’s new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture sets a new standard for the industry, providing customers with the framework to leverage past CLARiiON investments and maintain high levels of productivity while also enjoying the benefits of tiered storage and data consolidation. With the delivery of the new CLARiiON CX3 series, EMC has done a lot more than update the product – the company has developed an architecture that further extends CLARiiON’s midrange storage leadership.”

CLARiiON Services and Support – New Choices and Flexibility Without Compromise

EMC also announced new flexibility for CLARiiON service and support, including a new option for next business day on-site response, in addition to EMC’s premium 7x24, 4 hour on-site response coverage – the best in the industry. In addition, EMC has extended the standard CLARiiON warranty to three years.

Availability

The EMC CLARiiON UltraScale CX3-20, CX3-40 and CX3-80 models are available immediately and can be purchased from EMC, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Unisys and EMC’s worldwide Velocity Channel and reseller network.

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.
For more on EMC news, events, and recent media coverage visit the news section of EMC.com. Note to editors: For further information about this release contact EMC Public Relations at pr@emc.com

EMC and CLARiiON are registered trademarks, and FLARE, SnapView, MirrorView, SAN Copy, UltraScale and UltraPoint are trademarks of EMC Corporation. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks 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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