Dell | EMC® extend multi-billion dollar strategic alliance until 2011

"Alliances in name only are all too common," said Dell CEO, Kevin Rollins. "The Dell | EMC relationship is that rare exception that truly delivers better value and performance to customers. Together we have been able to provide the benefits of networked storage systems and services to customers of all sizes throughout the world."

The Dell | EMC relationship has yielded significant market results. Dell was the fastest-growing top-ten disk storage system vendor in 20051. EMC has become the mid-tier market share leader in revenue2. More than 34,000 Dell | EMC branded networked storage systems have been shipped to more than 10,000 customers worldwide. In addition, the scope of the relationship has consistently expanded and now includes Dell | EMC branded storage management, backup and replication software.

Joe Tucci, EMC Chairman, President and CEO, said, "The EMC | Dell relationship is the most successful of its kind in the industry. The unprecedented combination of leading capabilities from EMC and Dell has helped change the storage landscape. We are extending the relationship well into the future to ensure continued innovation, momentum and commitment to our mutual customers."

"Dell is committed to offering its customers the latest technology and the extension of this partnership will help in providing our customers in the Middle East with the very latest in data storage and backup requirements," said Michael Collins, General Manager, Dell Middle East.

Dell and EMC signed the original agreement in October 2001 to help customers reduce complexity and more effectively store, manage and protect their information through networked storage. From the outset, Dell and EMC implemented a unique model of sales, marketing, engineering and manufacturing collaboration to leverage each other's strengths to deliver compelling value to customers.

Over the past five years Dell has experienced steady growth in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) as a result of this committed partnership. Dell | EMC has successfully supplied businesses in EMEA with storage systems that provide the performance, scalability and management features to help them manage their ever-growing data storage and backup requirements.

Client wins have spanned across EMEA, with customers varying from the healthcare, manufacturing, technology and education sectors, including: the University of Leeds (UK), Kennametal (Germany), HPC (Netherlands) and bioMérieux (France).

Working collaboratively, the two companies have introduced significant new products and technologies, achieving numerous milestones including:

• The first sub-$5,000 networked storage system in the Dell | EMC AX100®.

• The demonstration and delivery of comprehensive mid-tier business continuity solutions using long-distance replication and failover.

• Integration of the management system for Dell PowerEdgeTM servers (OpenManageTM) with the management of Dell | EMC arrays (Navisphere®).

• The creation, along with other vendors, of the Storage Bridge Bay Working Group to drive standardisation in entry-level external storage.

• The industry's first end-to-end 4Gb/s networked storage systems in the new Dell | EMC CX3 UltraScale™ series.