Storage: EMC Showcases Scalable, High Availability Microsoft Solutions - enhancements of and services for the Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems - Product Information

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, April 26, 1999

As large Windows NT Server-based applications increasingly become mission-critical for organizations, EMC Corporation and Microsoft are highlighting Enterprise Storage Network-based solutions that provide companies with the highest levels of scalability and availability to ensure a constant flow of information.

EMC, the world's leading provider of enterprise storage systems, software and services, is demonstrating the benefits of three of its solutions for Windows NT Server-based environments, to thousands of users at Windows World 1999 in the show's Partner Pavilion. These include a high availability Microsoft Exchange messaging solution, EMC's remote fail-over capabilities, and EMC Enterprise Storage Networks. Also, EMC Monday announced that its Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems are compliant with the soon to be released Windows 2000 Server beta version 3, which is the next generation of Windows NT Server. Symmetrix will be available for deployment by developers and early adopters of the advanced operating system. The three solutions showcased at Windows World 1999 includeg: o High Availability for Microsoft Exchange environments. EMC and Microsoft have developed technical standards that help global corporations easily implement and achieve the highest levels of availability in their Microsoft Exchange environments. Microsoft Exchange is an enterprise-level Windows NT Server-based messaging and e-mail application. The two companies are separately offering professional services to help corporations implement these solutions, which incorporate EMC's industry leading Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems and EMC information management, protection and sharing software. o Remote fail-over capabilities for Windows NT Server-based environments utilizing EMC's Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) software, along with Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS). This solution will provide the highest levels of mission-critical information protection and availability and will enable users to rapidly begin operations with a synchronized secondary system, at a separate location, if their primary system becomes disabled. o EMC Enterprise Storage Networks, which allow organizations to consolidate and protect Windows NT Server-based information from hundreds of disparate servers, onto an EMC Enterprise Storage system. EMC's ESN provides an enterprise-wide information infrastructure that is easily managed and provides high levels of information protection, availability and scalability. "We're excited that EMC is extending its Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems and EMC information management software to work with Exchange Server," said Dave Malcolm, group product manager at Microsoft Corporation. "Exchange Server is the reliability and scalability leader for enterprise messaging and collaboration systems, and the EMC solutions will further enhance the availability of this mission-critical application." A recent worldwide survey of more than 800 IS executives, conducted by research firm Find/SVP on behalf of EMC, revealed that a large majority are deploying mission-critical applications on Windows NT and are consolidating that information for better management, protection and sharing. Nearly 70 percent of the respondents now consider their e-mail and messaging systems to be mission-critical. Frank Farese, EMC's Vice President of Global Alliances, said, "EMC Enterprise Storage Networks allow Windows NT Server users to stretch the walls of their data center, offering enterprise level protection and management to information generated throughout a company. E-mail and messaging have become as essential to many businesses as the telephone, and when they are not available a business is severely hampered. EMC has a long track record of providing companies with solutions that ensure their information is constantly available and properly protected." EMC Corporation, a Fortune 500 company based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, is the world's technology and market leader in the rapidly growing market for intelligent enterprise storage systems, software and services. The company's products store, retrieve, manage, protect and share information from all major computing environments, including UNIX, Windows NT Server and mainframe platforms. The company has offices worldwide, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC, and is a component of the S&P 500 Index. FMI: http://www.EMC.com.