Keeping its pledge to expand its portfolio for small- and medium-sized
businesses, EMC recently acquired Allocity, a software
start-up that provides back-up, restore and provisioning for Microsoft
Exchange systems.
EMC spokesman Dave Farmer confirmed that the Hopkinton, Mass., information
systems provider quietly picked up Allocity last month but declined to name
a purchase price for the Mountain View, Calif., concern.
Allocity makes
Live!Ex, a self-managing, self-protecting storage subsystem
designed to provide backup and restore, storage management, storage capacity
planning and provisioning for Microsoft Exchange
databases.
Live!Ex adds unique value at a time when some companies are moving to
storage area networks
utilization of storage. Because the glut of e-mail is the fastest growing
consumer of storage in most businesses, it makes sense for e-mail to benefit
from the efficiencies of the SAN.
While SMBs have generally been wary of embracing SANs due to cost and the
complexity of building them, Live!Ex helps Exchange users manage more
mailboxes, a tricky problem since Exchange wasn’t built to handle
distributed storage.
The deal is of little surprise. Allocity is an EMC partner and makes a
version of Live!Ex that integrates with CLARiiON CX hardware
platforms and EMC software, called Live!Ex/CX.
Farmer said it will be business as usual for Allocity. “We’ll continue to
support current Allocity customers and expect to incorporate the Allocity
technology into future product offerings for the commercial and SMB
markets.”
For EMC, the purchase is the next in line after its acquisition
of back-up and recovery start-up Dantz Development Corp., another software
specialist that creates products for the SMB market.
Though once holding a laser focus for the medium- to large-sized enterprises,
EMC has turned its attention toward the SMB space of late, recognizing the
growth potential for the market. IBM , HP
and other storage vendors target SMBs, as well.
Allocity’s assets and staff, which Farmer said numbers less than
30 people, will be integrated into EMC’s engineering and sales
organizations.
EMC Quietly Tucks In Allocity
