EMC is looking to win share of the flash storage market – particularly flash vendor of the moment, Pure Storage – with the launch of its XtremIO all-flash array.
Darren McCullum, EMC's regional sales manager, said EMC's technology was faster and more reliable than the current hard-disk standard – without being overly expensive.
"We've perfected the product from a technical perspective. We've worked to bring the technology to a level of capability. Until now [flash arrays] have come at a price."
EMC, which acquired XtremIO 18 months ago, faces stiff competition from all-flash rival Pure Storage, which recently entered the Australian market through distributor Observatory Crest.
Both offerings use intelligent software such as data de-duplication and indexing in an effort to improve storage efficiency and lower overheads.
One point of difference is that Samsung-backed Pure Storage uses consumer-grade flash while EMC's XtremIO resorts to commercial technologies.
McCallum said: "Some vendors are pursuing consumer-grade flash and they're doing that to bring the cost of their platform down. The challenge for the competition is they're using consumer-grade multi-level cell flash. In terms of endurance they're starting with a much lower bar than we are."
But Charles Tym, founding director of Harbour IT, which was the first Pure Storage Gold partner in Australia, was bullish in his support of the technology.
"Pure do have a unique offering. We had one initial implementation and then we've upgraded it threefold. I've been in the industry for years. I don't think it's seen a product that's had as much interest and an overwhelming return on investment."
Tym said Pure Storage would have anticipated EMC's entrance into the flash market. "I don't think the guys at Pure would be losing sleep over it. They would've expected it.
"Pure is already on their third iteration product. EMC is still getting [an all flash] product out the door."
War of words
Pure Storage actually welcomed the competitive solution. In a blogpost, Pure Storage vice-president, products, Matt Kixmoeller wrote that "overall we view this as a great move for the industry".
"We’re in a rapid transformation from legacy disk architectures to all-flash architectures for performance storage, and the 800-lb gorilla in the storage industry endorsing and accelerating this transformation will only help move the entire industry forward to the bright flash future.
"Hugely gratifying for those of us who have been pioneering this transformation," added Kixmoeller.
However, in another blogpost, Pure Storage chief executive Scott Dietzen said EMC's entrance into the flash market "arguably demotes" the value of mechanical disks.
Dietzen said: "If there’s any question that EMC XtremIO is targeting Pure Storage, I will share that unbeknownst to us, about a year ago, EMC procured a Pure Storage flash array from a channel partner and did their own internal testing.
"Our understanding is that the Pure array in question was taken to an engineering facility and that some of the XtremIO team were able to get hands-on access to Pure’s technology. We believe that such practices risk intellectual property contamination, both perceived and actual, of any vendor who allows their technical staff direct access to a competitor’s technology."
EMC is suing Pure Storage in the US alleging the company tried to steal intellectual property by hiring 44 former EMC employees.
The IDC estimates the all-flash array market will grow to $1.2 billion in revenue by 2015.
EMC has already sold 10 petabytes of effective deduplicated capacity through its Directed Availability program. The company works with 500 partners across Australia and New Zealand.