EMC and IBM Extend Interoperability Licensing Agreement for IBM i Storage Interfaces

HOPKINTON, Mass., April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- EMC Corporation today announced the extension and expansion of a technology licensing agreement with IBM that provides EMC with certain interfaces for storage interoperability and technical support for the IBM i operating environment.  The five year agreement, which extends and expands the initial agreement signed in March 2006, will allow customers to continue to deploy combinations of EMC storage and IBM Power Systems technologies.

Financial terms are not being disclosed.

Barbara Robidoux, EMC Vice President, Storage Product Marketing, added, "The extension and expansion of our agreement with IBM will help us continue to deliver the benefits of EMC's information infrastructure solutions to IBM Power Systems customers. Through technology licensing agreements such as this, EMC is furthering its commitment to providing our mutual customers using the IBM i operating environment with industry leading storage systems, software and services."

Jim Herring, Director IBM Power Systems Hardware Business Line said, "This agreement underscores IBM's commitment to open innovation and is consistent with our drive towards industry interoperability. The ability for IBM i clients to attach IBM and/or EMC storage provides them with broad industry choices to meet their growing workload needs."  

This is the latest in a series of agreements between EMC and IBM.  In June 2007, the companies extended their licensing agreement for the zSeries attachment architecture which enables the interoperability of EMC Symmetrix family of storage systems with IBM System z. In addition to the initial IBM i licensing agreement signed in March 2006, EMC and IBM announced a licensing agreement in October 2003 that provided EMC with access to a range of storage interfaces and functionality for other IBM Systems lines and agreed to a mutual exchange of open-standards based interfaces for improved manageability and interoperability. In June 2005, the companies extended their cooperative support agreement, which facilitates mutual response to joint customer issues including, the IBM Power System and all other IBM Systems lines.

About EMC

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

EMC and Symmetrix are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation.  

The following are either trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or both: IBM, i5/OS, IBM System  i.

Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Statements concerning EMC's or IBM's future development plans and schedules are made for planning purposes only, and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (iv) risks associated with managing the growth of our business, including risks associated with acquisitions and investments and the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (v) fluctuations in VMware, Inc.'s operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware stock; (vi) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (vii) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (viii) component and product quality and availability; (ix) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (x) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xi) war or acts of terrorism; (xii) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xiii) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xiv) the impact of any expense reduction initiatives; and (xv) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EMC disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

SOURCE EMC Corporation