EMC Hits The High End

The DMX storage systems feature EMC's Direct Matrix Architecture technology, which provides dedicated interconnects for data throughput that exceeds the performance of shared-bus or shared-switch systems, said Ken Steinhardt, director of technical analysis at EMC, Hopkinton, Mass. The DMX line also sets new standards for reliability, with triple-redundancy built into the cache memory chips, he said.

At the product launch here, EMC President and CEO Joe Tucci said the storage vendor has "bet the ranch, if you will, on this technology." Tucci said he expects the DMX line to account for more than half of all Symmetrix sales in this quarter.

The DMX series includes three models. Using the same modular packaging as EMC's Clariion, the DMX800 scales to up to 17.5 Tbytes of raw capacity and 16 front-end ports. The DMX1000 scales up to 21 Tbytes of raw capacity and 48 front-end ports, and the DMX2000 scales up to 42 Tbytes of raw capacity and 96 front-end ports. The DMX1000 and DMX2000 have a monolithic design and come in versions with mirrored RAID for increased performance.

The DMX systems range in price from $409,000 to $2.5 million, depending on the configuration, according to EMC.

EMC Vice President of Global Channels Gregg Ambulos said the DMX series rounds out EMC's product lineup for solution providers, giving them a menu of entry-level, midrange and high-end offerings.

John Orr, president of Stack Computer, an Irvine, Calif.-based solution provider, praised the linear scalability of EMC's product roster. Clariion customers, for example, can eventually migrate to the DMX line while maintaining their investment in hard drives and using the same management software, he said.

"What an awesome story to tell customers. If you are a Clariion reseller, you can tell customers, 'Here is investment protection all the way up to Symmetrix, using the same spindle set,' " Orr said.

Combined with the Clariion products, the new DMX series makes EMC a formidable competitor in every segment of the storage market, said Nick Ganio, president of enterprise solutions at Bell Microproducts, a San Jose, Calif.-based storage distributor. Ganio added that he's "bullish" on the prospects for the DMX products.

Likewise, Steve Israel, executive vice president of New York-based solution provider AMC, said the DMX line will spur high-end enterprise storage sales. "This is going to be a big help to us in driving revenue," said Israel. "This is the Rolls-Royce of the storage industry. It is very difficult to compete against it."

STEVEN BURKE contributed to this story.