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EMC on Wednesday introduced an across-the-board upgrade of its data protection software, hardware and services, with an emphasis on integrating the capabilities of what has traditionally been a hodgepodge of disparate technologies.
The enhancements to its data protection lineup include four new models of its Data Domain backup storage appliances; NAS and Data Domain support for its Avamar deduplication backup software; improved integration of its Networker data protection software with other EMC storage systems; and business-friendly enhancements to its Mozy cloud backup service.
The new data protection enhancements continue a move by EMC to better integrate its product lines, including a May move to integrate its Isilon scale-out NAS platform with Syncplicity file share and sync capabilities.
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EMC fundamentally believes that even now customers are still challenged when it comes to protecting and recovering their data, said Rob Emsley, senior director of product marketing for the Hopkinton, Mass.-based storage giant.
"And we believe that if backup and recovery is not fixed, customers run the risk of lost productivity, lost revenue and lost customer confidence," Emsley said.
EMC's solution to the data protection challenge is to move toward offering data protection as a service, Emsley said. That includes consolidating production storage into easily managed pools, integrating data protection across virtual and physical environments, and offering data management services.
"We're producing a solution with our products to allow customers to offer our data protection products as a service, and to leverage them in a consolidated way," he said.
The move by EMC to consolidate and integrate its data protection product lines is part of a normal progression in solution development, said Jamie Shepard, regional vice president at Lumenate, a Dallas-based solution provider and EMC partner.
"EMC is creating a vision for how to protect data," Shepard said. "It's bringing a bunch of products together with simpler interfaces and easier integration."
The move makes it easier for EMC customers to get more value from the vendor's hardware and software, Shepard said. For instance, a customer using Avamar software can now easily connect it to a Data Domain appliance for expanded data protection.
"Everything is coming together," he said. "This is awesome stuff. People have for years complained that EMC's stuff is not related, and that EMC is not bringing it together."
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