EMC has continued its push into hybrid Clouds, buying three startups and introducing a package of hardware, software and services for getting a Cloud up and running.
Cloud computing is part of EMC's vision for a so-called "3rd Platform" of IT, along with big data, social networking and mobile capabilities. The company has its roots in storage but now calls itself a federation of businesses that can deliver that platform to enterprises through VMware's virtualization software, RSA's security products and Pivotal's big-data and PaaS (platform as a service) technologies.
The latest acquisitions give EMC more tools to help enterprises set up hybrid Clouds, which can combine the security and control of private infrastructure with the flexibility and low cost of public Clouds. EMC didn't reveal how much it paid for the three startups, saying the all-cash purchases would not have a material impact on its financial results.
Maginatics, based in Mountain View, California, sells software that provides a single global namespace for data spread across private, public and hybrid Clouds. It lets enterprises move data across those clouds and includes features such as data deduplication and WAN optimisation for efficiency. EMC plans to integrate the company's technology with its data protection software, storage and services so it can provide data protection and management across multiple Clouds that an enterprise may use.
Spanning, in Austin, Texas, offers subscription-based backup and recovery services for Cloud-based applications and data. Its products include data protection for Google Apps and Salesforce.com, and a service for Microsoft Office 365 is coming soon, according to EMC. By acquiring Spanning, EMC hopes to extend its data protection across all applications and workloads. Both Maginatics and Spanning, and their CEOs will join EMC's Core Technologies Division.
EMC had earlier confirmed its acquisition of Cloudscaling, a San Francisco startup that sells an OpenStack-based operating system for managing computing, storage and networking in private and hybrid Clouds. The IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) product, called Open Cloud System, is expected to give EMC more momentum in OpenStack-based infrastructure offerings.
Also on Tuesday, EMC announced the EMC Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Solution. This combination of hardware, software and services, made up of products from EMC and its majority-owned VMware subsidiary is designed to help enterprises build a hybrid Cloud quickly - in 28 days or less with EMC Professional Services, the company said. An edition with VMware is available now, and editions for Microsoft Cloud Platform and OpenStack will be available next year. The solution includes interoperability with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMware vCloud Air and other EMC-powered Cloud service providers, the company said.
Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com
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