EMC Extends Interoperability Licensing Agreement with IBM for IBM zEnterprise Mainframe System Storage Interfaces

HOPKINTON, Mass., Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

News Summary:

• EMC and IBM are extending their existing technology licensing agreement by one year through 2017, to provide IBM zEnterprise customers with storage interoperability interfaces and technical support.
• The multi-year history of commitment and collaboration between EMC and IBM continues to enable customers to deploy combinations of EMC® VMAX® storage and IBM System z technologies—including the new IBM zEnterprise EC12.
• In recent news, last week EMC announced immediate support for the now-generally available IBM zEnterprise EC12 mainframe system (news release here).

Full Story:

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) has extended its longstanding technology licensing agreement with IBM for EMC storage interoperability with IBM zEnterprise environments by one year through 2017. Under the agreement, EMC and IBM will continue collaborating to provide IBM zEnterprise customers storage interoperability interfaces and technical support, providing IBM z customers the choice, flexibility and support needed to deploy a combination of EMC VMAX storage systems and software with IBM z technologies.

As part of the agreement, IBM will provide EMC with technical specifications that will continue to enable compatibility between EMC VMAX storage systems and the IBM zEnterprise System running current and future versions of the IBM z operating systems.

The EMC and IBM agreement has served as the foundation upon which EMC and IBM have worked collaboratively for eight years in support of IBM System z customers:

• 2003, EMC and IBM first announced a licensing agreement that provided EMC with access to a range of mainframe storage interfaces and functionality for other IBM systems lines.
• 2005, the two companies extended a cooperative support agreement which remains in place today.  It facilitates mutual response to joint customer issues across various IBM Systems lines.
• 2009, EMC introduced the EMC Virtual Matrix Architecture and VMAX, enterprise storage that is purpose-built for virtualized data centers—and ensured support for full IBM mainframe interoperability.
• 2010 EMC provided day-one support for IBM's zEnterprise 196 with support for Multi-Track High Performance FICON, and enhanced support for IBM z/OS Global Mirror and z/OS Metro/Global Mirror.
• 2011, the agreement was extended and EMC introduced AutoSwap™ for z/VM business continuity solution.
• 2012, EMC offers day-one support of zEnterprise EC12, extending its agreement for ongoing interoperability and innovation—enabling zEnterprise customers to leverage  EMC Virtual Provisioning™ and Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST™) technologies to exploit the benefits of  Flash drives.

IBM Quote:

Mark Anzani, IBM Vice President, Portfolio and Technical Strategy, System z

"This extension of the existing agreement resulted from IBM's ongoing innovation for System z. For years, IBM has been delivering on open standards and giving customers' choice. This extension agreement underscores IBM's commitment to industry interoperability. By enabling choices in storage infrastructure from vendors such as IBM and EMC, clients can confidently grow applications and data onto the zEnterprise."

EMC Quote:

Peter C. Conway, Vice President Enterprise Storage Division, EMC

"We are pleased to announce the extension of our Licensing Agreement with IBM. The extension of our relationship with IBM will assure our mutual EMC VMAX and IBM zEnterprise customers the benefits of our combined offering. Through efforts such as this, EMC is demonstrating its ongoing commitment to IBM zEnterprise and its customers."

Additional Resources

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About EMC

EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing.  Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset — information — in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.

EMC, VMAX, AutoSwap, Virtual Provisioning and FAST are either registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. For a current list of IBM trademarks, please see www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.

Forward Looking Statement:

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) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) component and product quality and availability; (vi) fluctuations in VMware, Inc.'s operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware stock; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) 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; (ix) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (x) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xii) threats and other disruptions to our secure data centers or networks; (xiii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xiv) war or acts of terrorism; 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