HOPKINTON, Mass., and REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 1, 2000 — EMC Corp. and Microsoft Corp. today 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 today 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:
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To help customers migrate to Windows 2000 while managing, sharing and protecting their enterprisewide 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.
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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 TM 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 Systems 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.”
“We are delighted to team with Microsoft to make this groundbreaking announcement,”
said Bob Dutkowsky, president of EMC’s Data General division.
“We believe that this unique combination of dedicated expertise will enable businesses to dramatically reduce the complexity and deployment time of highly available, high-performance Microsoft solutions throughout the enterprise. In addition, we are confident that this agreement will further our vision of a consolidated, simplified and controlled computing infrastructure for the enterprise.”
About EMC
EMC Corp., a Fortune 500 company based in Hopkinton, Mass., is the world’s technology and market leader in the rapidly growing market for intelligent enterprise storage systems, software, networks and services. The company’s products store, retrieve, manage, protect and share information from all major computing environments, including Windows NT, Windows 2000, UNIX, Linux, mainframe and other platforms. The company has offices worldwide, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC, and is a component of the S & P 500 Index. For further information about EMC and its storage solutions, EMC’s corporate Web site can be accessed at http://www.emc.com/ .
Data General, a division of EMC, is a major supplier of consolidated computing solutions for customers worldwide. The division’s products include Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000- and UNIX-based AViiON Ò servers and related software and services. Strategic alliances with leading software vendors and systems integrators enable Data General to deliver complete solutions that meet customers’ business need to simplify, consolidate and control information technology infrastructures. Additional information on Data General, its products and services is available on the Internet at http://www.dg.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
EMC and Data General are registered trademarks of EMC Corp. AviiON, Cluster-in-a-Box and Exchange-in-a-Box are registered trademarks, and TermServer-in-a-Box is a trademark of Data General, a division of EMC.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
All other brand names and product names referenced in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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) component quality and availability; (ii) delays in the development of new technology and the transition to new products; (iii) competitive factors, including, but not limited to, pricing pressures in the computer storage and server markets; (iv) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines; (v) economic trends in various geographic markets and fluctuating currency exchange rates; (vi) deterioration or termination of the agreements with certain of the company’s resellers or OEMs; (vii) the uneven pattern of quarterly sales; (viii) risks associated with strategic investments and acquisitions; (ix) year 2000 issues; and (x) 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.
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