VARs Conflicted Over Latest EMC Takeovers
CDP software allows the backup of changes to data as they occur so users can instantly recover a deleted, corrupted or modified file.
The acquisition is a great move for EMC as its arrays can use the Kashya technology to become secondary targets for data replication, said Dave Klauser, CEO of Prism Technologies, a VAR in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.
“With this purchase, EMC is no longer limited to replicating over IP EMC to EMC,” Klauser said. “They can now go into any company with any type of primary storage and start to suck data off the competitive storage and onto EMC storage, especially in a disaster-recovery environment.”
For Mike Fanelli, a partner at TreTempo, a Dallas-based storage solution provider, the disappearance of smaller technology companies via acquisitions can be exasperating to solution providers trying to differentiate themselves. “This is killing me,” he said. “I’m going to have to get a new job. Every time I start with a new company, EMC goes out and buys them. So instead of being one of only two Kashya resellers in the Dallas area, I become one of 20 EMC VARs.”
Rob Emsley, EMC’s senior director of software product marketing, said San Jose, Calif.-based Kashya was acquired for several reasons. The buy gives EMC the chance to acquire its own CDP software offering. Late last year, EMC started offering its RecoverPoint CDP software based on technology OEM’d from Fremont, Calif.-based Mendocino Software, which also has an OEM relationship with EMC rival Hewlett-Packard. He said Kashya will be used in future releases of RecoverPoint.
Kashya also offers a network-based solution for remote data replication and data protection that plays well with the EMC Invista network-based block storage virtualization solution just coming to market, Emsley said.
The Kashya technology expands EMC’s software portfolio for remote replication across heterogeneous environments and furthers its information life-cycle management (ILM) strategy, Emsley said.
The acquisition could cause angst with storage vendors that have relations with Kashya, including Xiotech, Eden Prarie, Minn., and Pillar Data Systems, San Jose, Calif.
“As we move forward, we will revisit all business relationships,” Emsley said. “But it’s business as usual at the outset.”