EMC Hits Q1 Revenue Record, But Dell Casts Shadow

EMC, of Hopkinton, Mass., said on Wednesday it had revenue in the first quarter of 2008 of $3.5 billion, up 17 percent from the $3.0 billion it reported during the same quarter in 2007.

Income for the quarter fell, however. Income was $268.8 million, or 13 cents per share, for the first quarter 2008, down 14 percent from the $312.6 million, or 15 cents per share, the company reported last year. EMC said the shortfall stemmed in part from a $79.2 million non-cash charge for in-process R&D resulting from acquisitions during the quarter.

About 50 percent of EMC's sales are touched in some way by indirect sales channels, a figure that has not changed over the year, a company spokesperson said.

There have been concerns in the industry that EMC's sales through its biggest reseller partner, Dell, Round Rock, Texas, might drop in the wake of Dell's acquisition in January of EqualLogic, which competes with EMC in the entry-level iSCSI market.

However, the spokesperson said that this appears to not have happened to any large extent. Dell accounted for 12.5 percent of EMC's revenue in the first quarter of 2008, down from 13.5 percent of revenue during the same quarter of 2007, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that EMC and Dell have a reseller agreement through 2011, but that Dell will compete with EMC in the low end of the iSCSI storage market thanks to its EqualLogic and its own server-based offerings.

During the first quarter, EMC's systems revenue rose 10 percent over last year to account for 41 percent of total revenue. Software license and maintenance revenue increased 18 percent, also accounting for 41 percent of total revenue. Other services revenue rose 30 percent.

North American revenue was up 14 percent compared to last year, and North America accounted for 57 percent of EMC's quarterly revenue, EMC said.