EMC Corp has unveiled what it claims to be the world’s largest capacity disc storage system, doubling the previous capacity of its high end Symmetrix 5700/3700 Enterprise models. The new system is capable of delivering six terabytes of data, and implements new 47Gb drives. The system needs 17.3 square feet of space and holds information the equivalent of 1.5 billion pages of printed text, 102,000 CD-ROMS or 3 million standard diskettes. The new Symmetrix system can handle storage requirements for OS/390 mainframes as well as supporting Hewlett-Packard Co, Sun Microsystems Inc, IBM Corp, Sequent and NT servers, simultaneously. EMC has been working of the development of the code behind the new system since last October, and the systems are now generally available. Being so large, the company sells the systems basically on a made to order basis. EMC has the components already in place and then builds on top of them, depending on the size of system the company requires. The new Symmetrix models will be sold to existing customers so they can put the information held on several systems onto just one, as well as customers looking to transfer large data warehouses and databases and those looking to implement SAP AG or Baan Co NV applications. According to EMC’s UK marketing director, Mike Maunder the company is well ahead of its competitors with this latest offering. Maunder explains that EMC has seen it competition change over the last couple of years, with Hitachi Data Systems knocking IBM Corp out of the way in the large scale enterprise storage arena. But Maunders believes EMC is well ahead of the pack and although size isn’t everything, it is important for the company to keep on top of the market and prove that it can get their first. EMC is not in the practice of giving out its prices, but Maunder said the systems will start at around 250,000 pounds in the UK, and they are available now.
