EMC's Dantz Dance

The Dantz deal, while relatively small with its less-than-$50 million price tag, speaks volumes about EMC's transformation from a myopic Fortune 1000 storage hardware behemoth powered by a high-priced direct-sales team into a full-fledged, end-to-end storage solutions company with robust multiplatform software offerings and a fleet of channel partners offering solutions that appeal to the smallest home office as well as the Fortune 100.

First and foremost, the Dantz acquisition gives EMC the small-business product set and DNA to go head to head with Veritas Software and Computer Associates International in the low-end storage software backup market. Call it the big squeeze. Suddenly, EMC is applying pressure to those rivals with software solutions from the top, bottom and even the middle of the market. EMC knows Dantz's value and aims to use it as a powerful competitive weapon. EMC has already said it is poised to sell EMC software, such as RepliStor data replication, through the Dantz channel. Likewise, it also aims to sell Dantz's backup software through the EMC channel.

Amena Ali, vice president of storage management and channel marketing for the EMC Software Group, said the vendor's biggest differentiator is the breadth of its information life-cycle management offerings. Since Ali joined EMC last year, she said there has been a significant change in EMC's view of the channel.

"We are really looking at the channel holistically across the board in terms of all the various product offerings," she said. "A key piece of our strategy going forward is getting the leverage the channel provides us."

That said, EMC's biggest challenge lies in coming to grips with the vast scope of the SMB market and the importance and influence of the tens of thousands of long-established solution providers acting as trusted advisors in that market. It's going to require a lot of effort to convince skeptical VARs that EMC is a trusted partner that they can bet their businesses on. It's also going to take unparalleled channel programs, tools and resources.

So, does EMC have what it takes to become the Proctor and Gamble of the storage world? Only time will tell. But one thing is clear: EMC is on the right track.

What do you think of EMC's Dantz deal? Let me know by phone at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].