New EMC Cloud Storage Service

EMC Corporation expands its cloud infrastructure portfolio by announcing new information storage services and industry-leading information management offerings providing customers of all sizes with new, cost-effective options for storing, protecting and distributing large amounts of information.

EMC Atmos onLine is a new Internet delivered cloud storage service built on EMC Atmos, an industry-leading, policy-based information management platform. EMC Atmos onLine provides Cloud Optimized Storage (COS) capabilities to customers of all sizes that need to move and manage large amounts of information cost-effectively while delivering reliable service levels, information protection and secure access.

EMC Atmos internal to external federation is a new capability enabling customers to move – or ‘federate’ – data from on-premise (or internal) to off-premise (or external) Atmos clouds. For example, a customer can set policies to federate their information to an external Atmos storage cloud for cost efficiencies and collaboration.

EMC Atmos onLine provides customers instant access to online storage resources to reduce capital expenses and management overhead. The service delivers users the flexibility and cost efficiencies of on-demand, object storage – while providing the controls modern enterprises require, such as policy and retention.

Additionally, the new ability to federate from internal to external Atmos clouds mean customers can manage and extend resources beyond their internal enterprise. Federation is a critical step in the adoption of cloud-based computing models since most customers are reluctant to move 100-percent of their information into a cloud internet infrastructure. EMC Atmos with federation provides customers with the cost and operational efficiencies of cloud, while maintaining the important controls – and selective choice – of what data resides where.

"It is clear that IT organizations have the desire to adopt cloud storage technologies. It is also clear that they must maintain the necessary controls over where their data resides while preserving the investments of existing applications and infrastructures," said Benjamin S. Woo, vice president, Enterprise Storage Systems Research at IDC. "By introducing the ability to federate data from on-premise to online, EMC’s Atmos is providing a differentiated approach to cloud storage, while delivering the choice, control, flexibility — and cost efficiencies — of cloud that are required by today’s IT organization."

In related news, AT&T has selected EMC Atmos to power its AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service, a storage-on-demand offer that provides enterprise customers with control over the storage, distribution and retrieval of their data anytime, anywhere using any Web-enabled device.

"AT&T has always strived to bring the best of breed service to enable its clients to overcome business challenges," said Roman Pacewicz, senior vice president of Strategy and Application Services, AT&T Business Solutions. "And working with EMC, AT&T can provide our customers with a flexible and cost-effective solution for storing, delivering and retrieving data that helps them meet their changing business needs."

EMC Atmos
EMC Atmos enables Web 2.0 and Internet providers, telecommunications, media and entertainment companies to securely build and deliver cloud-based information-centric services and applications at massive scale by providing the capabilities of centralized management and automated placement of information globally. EMC Atmos lets customers define policies that determine how information is distributed and handled globally.

Customers are using EMC Atmos to build robust and flexible distributed cloud storage infrastructures. For example, eBay selected EMC Atmos for its storage needs.

"eBay and EMC have worked closely for more than a year to create a reliable, scalable cloud storage infrastructure that meets the demands of eBay’s expanding business," said Mazen Rawashdeh, Vice President, Technology Operations at eBay.

EMC Velocity2 Atmos Partner Program
Additionally, EMC expands its Velocity Technology and ISV Program to include the EMC Velocity2 Atmos Partner Program designed to enable independent software vendors (ISVs) access to EMC Atmos application programming interfaces (APIs) to create applications leveraging Atmos and Atmos onLine. The EMC Velocity2 Atmos Partner Program facilitates and accelerates efforts of ISVs to responding to customers’ fast-growing demand for greater scalability, elasticity and lower costs through integration with Atmos cloud storage infrastructure offerings. The program is designed to help partners that want to deliver solutions to their customers with minimal up front investment. The program provides the support that partners need for all stages of engagement — from the initial knowledge transfer to integrating marketing, sales and delivery. Click here for more information about the EMC Velocity2 Atmos Partner Program. EMC encourages collaboration in the EMC Community Network (ECN) Atmos onLine community for customers and partners.

"EMC has a deep heritage of technology innovation and market execution. Today we continue to build upon that heritage by delivering customers more choice, better control and increased efficiency in large-scale storage environments," said Mike Feinberg, senior vice president, EMC Cloud Infrastructure Group. "With today’s news, EMC is extending the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model, minimizing upfront investment, while providing customers with a solution that addresses the complexities and dependencies of enterprise-class cloud storage environments. We’ve remained focused on delivering enterprise-ready cloud solutions, and today marks an important milestone that will make the adoption of cloud a reality for customers of all sizes around the world."

Availability
The federation feature will be available in the EMC Atmos offering in the second quarter of 2009.