CRN Interview: Bill Nelson, EMC

EMC's pending acquisition of Legato Systems will make the storage giant a

credible player in the backup and recovery space as well as help it build a channel in content management and software, Bill Nelson, senior vice president of open software operations at EMC, said last week in an interview with CRN Senior Editor Joseph F. Kovar.

CRN: Why does EMC want to acquire Legato?

NELSON: Most acquisitions are mainly [centered] around technology. But with Legato, we get many things. We do get technology to enhance our portfolio. But we also get a channel capability we would have had to develop on our own.

Legato gets 75 percent of its revenue from resellers, partners and OEMs. EMC gets slightly less than two-thirds [of its revenue] through our direct sales.

In the open software business, our focus has been on building a distribution capability outside our own channel. We have been spending time trying to understand from the base of resellers now with EMC how many can sell software on their own. Most focus on hardware and software solutions.

CRN: So how does Legato fit in?

NELSON: We are now focused on selling to high-end customers and selling full storage capabilities. In open software, we are looking to build a broad distribution base in the commercial software business. Legato gives us coverage in customer segments and in geographical areas that we don't cover.

CRN: Do you plan to move EMC software through Legato's channel organizations?

NELSON: We have been actively recruiting a channel around two major products we recently acquired: Prisa's VisualSAN and Astrum's VisualSRM. These products are very similar in terms of target market to Legato's resellers. And they are fairly complementary to Legato's channel offerings. Some products are fairly complicated and don't easily fit into distribution. But VisualSAN and VisualSRM are the poster children for products that can fit into a distribution channel.

CRN: Legato acquired OTG Software last year. What are EMC's plans for that part of the Legato acquisition, which gives EMC e-mail and messaging archiving capabilities?

NELSON: We consider that to be a critical element of information life-cycle management. Legato's EmailXtender and AppXtender are critical products for us going forward. Legato's investment in these products will fill a void in EMC.

CRN: Is there any product overlap between EMC and Legato?

NELSON: We will need to see [if there is overlap] as the acquisition goes forward. But on the surface, we view any overlaps as minimal.

CRN: There is a lot of talk about whether EMC will continue Legato's OEM relations, especially with EMC competitors such as Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and StorageTek. What are EMC's plans?

NELSON: We hope they all continue. One of the reasons we are organized the way we are [with Legato remaining a separate organization within EMC] is to focus on these partners. %85 [Legato Chairman and CEO] David Wright will continue with the company to focus on direct, indirect and OEM relationships.

CRN: What are EMC's plans for its OEM relationships with vendors that might have competed with Legato?

NELSON: One example would be KVS, which is in the content-addressed storage business. KVS leverages the APIs of our Centera array. It's a critical and, at the same time, a complementary relationship and one we want to continue.