Verizon to Offer Storage Services with EMC

In a sign that service providers have become more aware of their customers’ needs to secure, backup and restore their assets in the event of business-altering disasters, Verizon Tuesday said it has agreed to resell EMC’s automated storage systems with its own networking services.

The new package marks Verizon’s entry into the business continuity realm, where a slew of players, including EMC, Veritas, IBM, HP and Computer Associates exist. Verizon is also showing that companies don’t need to be firmly entrenched in storage to issue a data backup plan to make sure large enterprises stay afloat during catastrophes that threaten networks.

The market for business continuity products and services has rapidly expanded since the terrorist attacks of two years ago. Research bears this out, as IDC said in a recent study that worldwide spending for storage services is increasing by 6 percent a year and will reach almost $30 billion in 2007.

Terms of the deal were not unveiled, but Verizon will bundle its metropolitan networks and advanced data networking

capabilities with EMC’s storage systems and software and sell them through its enterprise solutions group.

Businesses who place a premium on backing up crucial data can now order custom-designed storage backup and data retrieval

from Verizon. The New York-based telecommunications company has already installed a proven solution for one customer,

Amscot Financial, a financial services company based in Tampa, Fla.

Using EMC’s automated EMC’s MirrorView software, the solution mirrors and replicates Amscot’s data to an off-site data center. The design includes a new network that links Amscot’s primary and backup data centers and supports 51 offices in nine

counties throughout Florida. Verizon Select Services provides the long distance service.

“Verizon brought in EMC, and the team presented a cost-effective proposal that surpassed the competition,” said Michael Horrocks, director – information technology, Amscot Financial.

As a leading purveyor of storage systems, Hopkinton, Mass., EMC can attest to the blooming of business continuity.

“The demand for networked storage and services continues to grow as organizations seek to pull greater value from their resources and to protect their information with a consolidated infrastructure,” said BJ Jenkins, EMC’s vice president, telecommunications, media and entertainment.

The cozy relationship between Verizon and EMC could bring the significant fruits to bear. EMC frequently has success when partnered with another industry giant. The storage giant currently enjoys successful partnerships with such companies as Microsoft for NAS storage and Dell for many facets of the storage niche.