EMC puts $1 million guarantee on Israel’s XtremIO technology

XtremIO provides an efficient and consistent way of storing and accessing data on flash memory.

By NIV ELIS
XtemIO (photo credit: Courtesy)
XtemIO
(photo credit: Courtesy)
LAS VEGAS – Data-storage giant EMC is offering a $1 million guarantee on the performance of XtremIO, technology created by an Israeli start-up of the same name it acquired in 2012 for $430 million.
XtremIO provides an efficient and consistent way of storing and accessing data on flash memory.
“We’re offering this guarantee because we believe we’re the only flash provider who can deliver on the promise of being inline all of the time,” EMC Information Infrastructure CEO David Goulden said at the company’s annual event in Las Vegas this week.
XtremIO solved the problems of using flash memory – the same type of technology used on thumb drives and memory cards – for large-scale storage instead of traditional hard-disk space.
“EMC’s XtremIO all-flash arrays have a unique architecture, and with this guarantee we’re exposing the shortcomings of competing solutions,” Goulden said. “We are happy to put a million dollars on the line to make our point and make the market aware of the distance that exists between XtremIO and its competitors.”
The million-dollar guarantee, however, is only applicable to the first customer who complains about it.
EMC has made several large acquisitions in Israel in recent years and has operations in Herzliya, Petah Tikva and Beersheba. RSA, EMC’s security company, also has major operations in Israel and is perhaps best known for acquiring Economy Minister Naftali Bennett’s start-up Cyota in 2005.
Because its main customers are other businesses, EMC lacks the brand recognition of companies such as Apple or Microsoft. Its products live behind the scenes of the hi-tech world and touch people in their everyday lives, which has helped it grow to a market capitalization of over $51 billion.
Israeli health providers – including the way Maccabi Healthcare Services uses electronic medical records – rely on EMC products to store and access memory-intense files such as X rays, ultrasounds and MRIs.
As more and more companies start relying on user-provided data from mobile platforms, “that’s going to have a profound impact on the infrastructure, a profound impact on the storage,” said Jeremy Burton, EMC’s president for products and marketing.
As an example, he cited a recent fender bender in which he was able to use his cellphone to upload photos, his location and a virtual reconstruction of the accident as part of his insurance claim. All that data requires storage space.
“The data collected through the application is at least 1,000 times what it used to be,” Goulden said.
While Israeli companies have provided key technology to help EMC stay at the forefront of the data-storage field – which alongside cloud computing, big-data analysis and mobile technology make up the central product areas the company provides – chief technology officer Bill Schmarzo has advice for the next generation of start-ups.
“I think the wearable thing is gonna be hot,” he said. “Imagine Google Glass going around and capturing everything I see.”
The start-ups that address the challenges of how to store, access, analyze and respond to all that data could see themselves negotiating an attractive buyout offer in the near future.
The author was a guest of the company.