EMC and Microsoft Form Strategic Global Alliance - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Feb 7, 2000

EMC Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Tuesday announced a strategic alliance designed to help organizations worldwide more effectively build and deploy highly reliable, available and manageable business solutions using the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server network operating system. The companies will combine Windows 2000, leading storage solutions and services from EMC, along with end-to-end solutions and services from EMC's Data General division to address the computing requirements of customers with the most demanding information technology environments.

As part of the alliance, Data General is offering the industry's first 99.9 percent uptime service guarantee for Windows 2000, enhancing its high-availability solutions for customers running their mission-critical operations on Microsoft enterprise platforms. This uptime service guarantee will cover clustered Data General servers running Windows 2000 Advanced Server or Windows 2000 Data Center Server, when available.

In addition, EMC Tuesday announced it is a Windows 2000 Global Launch Partner and will join Microsoft in more than 60 locations worldwide on Feb. 17, 2000, with other industry leaders showcasing significant investments in the Windows 2000 family of operating systems through solutions, services and support.

Initially, the global alliance will focus on the following:

* To help customers migrate to Windows 2000 while managing, sharing and protecting their enterprise wide information, the companies will develop and market storage networking solutions for the Windows NT Server and Windows 2000 operating systems using EMC storage systems and software.

* To provide highly available, manageable information infrastructures that simplify the customer experience, the companies will deliver a suite of packaged, end-to-end solutions combining Data General's "In-a-Box" products, Cluster-in-a-Box, Exchange-in-a-Box and TermServer-in-a-Box; lifecycle services, including a 99.9 percent uptime service guarantee for Windows 2000, Windows NT Server 4.0, Exchange Server and SQL Server 7.0; and fixed priced support and training for high-availability platforms delivered through Data General's Microsoft Certified Support Center.

* To enable customers to upgrade easily from Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 to Exchange 2000 Server and establish highly available, scalable and manageable Exchange messaging and collaboration environments, the companies will develop and market integrated solutions using servers and services from Data General as well as EMC's storage solutions and services.

* To meet the unique, mission-critical requirements of the health-care market, Data General and Microsoft will drive the adoption of and migration to Windows 2000 Server-based solutions for hospitals, managed-care providers and physician offices.

"HomeLife embarked on an early deployment of Windows 2000 in an ambitious project to reinvent our entire IT infrastructure," said Christopher Smith, chief information officer for HomeLife, formerly the furniture division of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and one of the largest furniture retailers in the United States. "Because of the successful working relationship between Microsoft, Data General and EMC, we have already started to see the high-availability, reliability and manageability benefits of our implementation. We have been impressed by the consistent level of cooperation, dedication and support we have received and believe that this alliance will afford even more opportunities for us to ensure the future success of our business solutions."

To support the initiatives of the alliance, the companies have invested funds for joint marketing, certification and training on Microsoft technologies. EMC and Data General will train and certify 400 professionals as Microsoft Certified Solution Developers and Microsoft Certified System Engineers in the next 12 months. Data General has established Microsoft-focused Solution Centers that will be used to develop, deliver and support Microsoft-based business solutions and to demonstrate the scalability, manageability, interoperability and business value of the Microsoft platform.

In addition, EMC's Data General division will provide global support to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including solutions development in its target markets. Data General will engage Microsoft Premier Support Services to assist in providing this level of service for enterprise customers.

Roy Sanford, EMC's vice president of Enterprise Alliances, said, "The rapid growth of Windows-based information and the increased reliance on these systems for mission-critical applications is driving customer requirements for more effective ways to manage, share and protect that information. This alliance is a commitment by both companies to providing customers around the world with the most advanced storage systems and software to meet those requirements."

"Customers are looking for end-to-end solutions that ensure the rapid and reliable deployment of Windows 2000 and other emerging technologies designed to yield breakthroughs in value," said Deborah Willingham, vice president of Windows Marketing at Microsoft. "Microsoft, EMC and Data General have worked together for several years on enterprise customer and technology-related initiatives. We are convinced that the depth of experience shared by our companies will enable our customers to implement enterprise solutions with confidence to realize significant business value quickly."