Pressure On For Big Change: Is No News Good News?

EMC in July was unexpectedly hit with investor pressure to explore alternatives that could result in improved shareholder return, including selling its 80 percent stake in VMware, or either merging with or selling itself to a major systems vendor, with or without its VMware stake. Until Monday, EMC has resisted the pressure, but this week EMC and activist investor Elliott Management called a truce.

EMC early this year is expected to offer more clear responses to the investor pressure. At the same time, EMC Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci is scheduled to retire early this year after delaying it for several years, but there is no guarantee he or the company is ready for him to leave.

Taken together, this means 2015 will be a very interesting year in terms of what EMC will do to itself. CRN has been closely following these and related questions. Turn the page to look at EMC's 2015 choices.