EMC is planning to sell control of Dropbox rival Syncplicity, as it looks to focus on selling storage hardware and software.

The online file-sharing business, which EMC bought in May 2012, will to be sold to Skyview. The company will, however, retain a financial interest after the sale by continuing to sell Syncplicity as part of its partner program.

The file sharing company, which competes with the likes of Box and Google Drive, has been adapted since it was purchased so that enterprises could use it for access to data in its own storage systems.

Although Syncplicity has bookings which are doubling annually, it is said to be unprofitable and EMC appears to be cutting its losses.

Jeremy Burton, President, products and marketing, EMC, said: "This is a step away from EMC’s core infrastructure strength. This move is designed to ensure that Syncplicity is adequately positioned for success in the evolving EFSS market and to enable EMC to increase our focus on core EMC Information Infrastructure investments."

While EMC has looked to branch out in recent years, with new products such as flash-memory based machines, its most expensive storage equipment is not receiving high demand.

Skyview has said that it plans to invest heavily in the business, as it looks to expand its ecosystem of partners and resellers.