IBM, EMC join to make storage simpler

NEW YORK : Computer hardware makers International Business Machines Corp. and EMC Corp. said that they would share information to make it easier to use EMC data storage systems with IBM's large mainframe computers.

The companies, which are fierce competitors in the data storage system market, said that they will each provide information about the programming that enables the computer and the data storage hardware to work together.

Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based EMC will also license some mainframe and storage technology from IBM, which is headquartered in Armonk, New York.

The move comes as data storage system makers are trying to establish technology standards that will make it easier for customers to manage data that is stored on systems made by different companies.

The agreement stops short of an exchange of application programming interfaces, or APIs, which enable different applications such as databases to communicate with each other. Some companies have agreed to share that information, which makes it easier to write software that can manage these applications.

One analyst said that it may be that the companies, who sell competing data storage systems, are facing tough market conditions and needed to do something, even if it was not the entire agreement.

"I think they didn't want to wait, and they don't want to force the API agreement ... I think they are trying to move fast now because the market is heating up," said Mike Kahn, a managing director at The Clipper Group in Wellesley, Massachusetts, which advises buyers on technology.

"The fact that the two of them are cooperating is in itself a big deal," Kahn said.

Executives from IBM and EMC both said that they would consider exchanging APIs. "I think it's a natural outgrowth of where we are," said IBM general manager of storage Dan Colby.

© Reuters