EMC launches 42 Hybrid Cloud-focused products at major event opening

The event sees attendees from more than 80 countries for a four-day packed schedule looking at every facet of data storage, and the transformation of IT through cloud and the management and understanding of the relentlessly expanding 'big data' from across the web.

It was only one year ago that EMC refreshed their portfolio with a wave of new storage systems and technologies, allowing customers, partners and the market in general new ways to handle massive information growth. Now the hottest trends, according to the EMC World's agenda focus are the wide scale transition to cloud computing and the management of big data.

Data itself remains ultimate source of value, says EMC COO

Pat Gelsinger, President and Chief Operating Officer, EMC Information Infrastructure Products said: "Throughout the evolution of IT, the data itself has remained the ultimate source of value. We build 'data centres,' not application or server centres; but rigid technology constraints effectively forced data to a lower priority.

"The onset of virtualisation, cloud computing and big data analytics, however, have restored data to its rightful place as the centre of IT gravity. The shift is swift and irreversible, from dedicated infrastructure silos built around specific applications where data is either locked in a specific application or orbits the periphery, to a data-centric approach to computing."

Yesterday's EMC World announcements address a fundamental shift to this next wave of necessary technologies required to transform IT in business. New resources include a range of Vmax enterprise storage arrays, VNX unified storage enhancements for the midrange storage market and a new 'DataBridge' enterprise management tool that provide real-time IT infrastructure management at the user's fingertips, with a 'single pane of glass' interface.

Remarking on the scale of the event and the flurry of announcements, Steve Duplessie, Founder & Senior Analyst, Enterprise Storage Group saod: "This year's EMC World isn't just about the sheer volume of announcements—it's about impact all over the portfolio. The company, already booming, clearly isn't sitting still—anywhere. It's impressive to say the least."

Backup and recovery landscape shifts dramatically

For a number of years, the most daunting challenges for IT administrators in terms of backup was window times and slow, unreliable tape-based recoveries. Today, cloud is on the rise, but legacy backup systems can still stall or hinder valuable IT transition initiatives, hence the need for easier to manage high capability backup and recovery platforms. This is a new era for flexibility and choice in facing data protection challenges.

Jason Buffington, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group commented on changes in the backup world: "IT transformation initiatives are driving new requirements for backup and recovery, and users need to be able to architect and optimise their data protection infrastructure to meet their specific needs. EMC is delivering a capability-rich solution portfolio that meets these needs head on, while simplifying backup and recovery processes."