“

”

These kinds of deals tend to be thrilling mostly to investment bankers and private equity wheelers; executives like EMC chief Joe Tucci…. Those investment bankers and CEOs tend to form an insulated-from-reality “circle of trust” that believes this deal will somehow be different, and their giant combination will somehow magically find “synergies” where most others have failed to.

Scott Kirsner, The Boston Globe

“”

The industry was surprised when Dell announced its intent to acquire EMC for $67 billion, the largest tech deal

ever. Merging two large stagnate companies with very different cultures and high levels of overlap in products can

pose significant challenges. The resulting company will have a sprawling portfolio of data storage products that

will need to be rationalized. Also, this acquisition is occurring when other large companies, such as HP and Symantec,

are splitting up their companies into smaller independent organizations, so they can be more focused and agile.

Rethink your storage approach with Quantum.

FEELING ANXIETY OVER THE DELL ACQUISITION OF EMC?

Dell and EMC Acquisition ImplicationsDell is known mostly for its distribution channel and high volume products, while EMC is known for its high end, high price storage products. It is easy to see why Dell needed to acquire EMC and change its market perception. One of the biggest challenges for the combined Dell/EMC will be rationalizing many similar product lines and pricing.

The prevailing opinion of market analysts is that most acquisitions, especially acquisitions of this size, destroy value. At a minimum, in the short term they create significant confusion and chaos, especially when there is serious overlap in many product areas, as is the case with Dell and EMC. Today, both Dell. EMC provide hybrid, backup, and object storage (see the table below). Dell’s flagship hybrid product is Compellent and EMC’s hybrid products include VNX and VNXe, and the recently announced Unity array. EMC’s Data Domain backup product has seen success in the enterprise while Dell’s DX backup product has been focused on the mid-market.

TARGET Dell EMCMID-MARKET HYBRID (HDD, HYBRID, AFA) PS Series (EqualLogic) VNXe, VNX, and Unity

ENTERPRISE HYBRID (NAS, HYBRID, AFA)

SC Series (Compellent)* SC Series (Compellent)*

VNX, VMAX, IsilonXtremIO, DSSD

SCALE-OUT 8 Isilon

OBJECT DX ECS

BACKUP DR Series Data Domain

*In 2015, Dell stated that Compellent was its architecture moving forward, but it continues to invest in both the SC and the PS Series.

Over time, it would probably make sense for EMC’s storage to dominate the combined range, although it could also be argued that Dell’s Compellent-derived efforts carry less baggage and might be easier to build on.

The Register, October 12, 2015

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But it’s hard to see Dell enduring the considerable overlap in products it shares with EMC. In storage, for example, EMC and Dell’s storage arrays overlap in many, many markets. Choice is one thing. Servicing US$20bn or more of new debt is another and servicing it will make it hard for Dell to hang on to all the people required to keep competing products alive.

The Register, October 12, 2015

“”

How This Acquisition Will Affect YouIt is completely understandable that you would be nervous about recent or future purchases from either Dell or EMC and that you will want roadmap assurances—especially those of you who have watched similar large acquisitions fail. Dell will not be able to provide combined roadmaps until after the deal closes in mid-2016. Once they decide which products to focus on, their future investment in hybrid storage, backup, and object storage could be limited due to the interest on the approximately $50 billion of debt that the new combined company will have on its balance sheet. Dell will need to pay roughly $2.5 billion a year in interest alone. That’s $2.5 billion that will be allocated away from R&D and other business-critical activities, which will keep Dell/EMC from better serving their customers.

Many in the industry have stated that the acquisition will not only be bad for their customers, but also for their employees. The uncertainty about the roadmap and which products will continue to be invested in is an obvious concern. The stability of the workforce should also be a concern. Companies that have large layoffs tend to have lower productivity and have lower customer satisfaction due to low morale and risk-averse survivors.

Following Dell’s announcement yesterday that it will buy storage firm EMC for $67 billion, analyst firm Gartner has said existing customers of either company are likely to be negatively impacted by the merger. Information Age, October 13, 2015

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If Dell and EMC really do merge, expect massive, bloody consolidation.

The Register, October 12, 2015

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The Pending Dell-EMC Cultural ClashWhile it is obvious that there will be significant challenges involved in rationalizing the product portfolio, more contentious issues will arise due to the integration of two companies that have very different cultures and business models. EMC is a high-end supplier of very sophisticated technologies for enterprise storage, security, document management, and virtualization, among other critical areas. Dell is probably best known as a low-cost consumer brand of PCs, with a focus on operational efficiency.

As this cultural clash inevitably plays out the real losers will be you, their customers. Executives and key individuals will be focused on positioning themselves internally, not focused on adding customer value. It could take years before everything is figured out and the dust settles. By then, the market will have likely moved on with more compelling solutions. HP’s acquisition of Compaq is an example of how a company really never recovered from a large failed acquisition—and the Dell acquisition of EMC would be the largest in tech history.

Speaking to The Irish Times at the EMC World Conference 2016 in Las Vegas, Burton (Jeremy Burton, EMC products and marketing president) acknowledged some unpopular decisions would need to be made if a merger of this scale is to succeed. The Irish Times, May 5, 2016

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I say you probably give these things a 50/50 hit rate under normal conditions.

The Cultural Fit Between Dell and EMC, Silicon Hills News - Steve Price, Senior VP of Human Resources, Dell

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Quantum Can HelpFor over 35 years Quantum has focused on solving customers storage problems. We provide a broad array of technologies—all with well-defined roadmaps—including flash, disk, object storage, tape, and cloud to balance your

performance and cost requirements.

Quantum has an end-to-end storage portfolio that touches every step in the data lifecycle:

TARGET Dell EMC Quantum

MID-MARKET HYBRID (HDD, HYBRID, AFA)

PS Series (EqualLogic)

SC Series (Compellent)*

VNXe VNX Unity

QXS hybrid storage

ENTERPRISE HYBRID (NAS, HYBRID, AFA)

SC Series (Compellent)*

VNX, VMAX, IsilonXtremIO, DSSD QXS hybrid storage

SCALE-OUT Isilon Xcellis™

OBJECT DX ECS Lattus™

DEDUPLICATION APPLIANCES DR Series Data Domain DXi®

TAPE PowerVault 8 Scalar®

ARCHIVE 8 8 Artico™

High-performance, multi-tier storage solutions for enabling

line-of-business creativity, productivity, and efficiency

WORKFLOW STORAGEMassively scalable storage

systems for safely preserving an organization’s most strategic data assets

ARCHIVINGHighly efficient and fast systems for protecting

an organization’s critical operational data

DATA PROTECTIONDesigned for high performance,

efficiency, reliability, and scalability; optimizes flash and disk to significantly lower costs

HYBRID STORAGE

Quantum Storage: Enabling You to Transform Data into Value for Your Organization

Quantum Q-Cloud Services bring the power of Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud to your enterprise.™

A Different Approach to StorageQuantum not only delivers a complete end-to-end storage portfolio—at each step in the data lifecycle, our storage solutions outperform EMC and Dell products. Compare Quantum’s QXS hybrid storage and DXi deduplication appliances to products from EMC and Dell in the following tables. You’ll see the clear benefits of using Quantum technology.

Quantum QXS EMC VNX Dell Compellent

REAL-TIME TIERING

4 Yes. Provides real-time

performance benefits through tiering, uses only 2% of CPU

cycles to accelerate constantly changing workloads.

8 No. Batch process moves data

overnight with significant system overhead, requiring 60% or more

CPU cycles.

8 No. RAID tiering refers only

to moving data between RAID levels within a single tier. There is no movement between tiers.

SSDs are supported, but not SSD to HDD tiering.

MAXIMUM CAPACITY IN A SINGLE ARRAY

(12-DRIVE CONFIGURATION IN 2U12 CHASSIS)

96TB 48TB 48TB

MODULAR EXPANSION CAPABILITIES 4

8 No. Upgrade requires

replacement with a bigger array.4

HIGH-DENSITY CHASSIS SUPPORT IN RAID UNIT 4 8

No8 No

THIN PROVISIONING 4 4 Yes (with performance limitations). 4

HOST PROTOCOL SUPPORT 8/16GB FC, 1/10GB iSCSI, 12GB SAS, hybrid 8GB FC, 1/10GB iSCSI, FCoE, NAS 8GB FC, 10GB iSCSI,FCoE, NAS

LIST PRICE $23K–$350K $50–$320K $25–$320K

FLAT-FEE CAPACITY LICENSING

4 YES. One time charge for the storage array. Tiering

and snapshots require a one-time license.

8 No. Storage array capacity

licensed per TB, with additional licensing for extra features,

including tiering and snapshots.

8 No. The base license covers

the first 16 to 48 drives, with expansion licenses needed

for every 24 drives after this. Capacity-based licensing.

LOWER ANNUAL SUPPORT COSTS 11%–13% of hardware cost 15%–20% of hardware cost 11%–13% of hardware cost

SSD CACHING 4 Yes. Up to 1.6TB 4 Yes. Up to 250GB 4 Yes. Up to 1.6TB

MAXIMUM DRIVE COUNT 248 LFF or 240 SFF VNX5200: 120/125 VNX5400: 240/250

SCv2000: 168 SC4020: 192 SC8000: 960 

Quantum DXi EMC Data Domain Dell DR

CAPACITY ON DEMAND 4 8 8

INTEGRATED CLOUD REPLICATION 4 4 8

TAPE OUT 4 8 8

SINGLE VENDOR FOR 3-2-1 BACKUP RULE 4 8 4

HYBRID BACKUP (DISK, TAPE, CLOUD) 4 8 4

STANDALONE VIRTUAL APPLIANCES 4 4 8

MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE 56 TB/h (DXi6900)

58.7 TB/h (DD9500)

29 TB/hDR6300

MULTI-PROTOCOL: VTL, OST, NAS, PLUGIN 4 Charged feature 4

ALL-INCLUSIVE LICENSING 4 8 4

END-TO-END ENCRYPTION (SOURCE, TRANSIT, AT REST) 4 4 8

SELF-ENCRYPTED "ZERO PERFORMANCE IMPACT" DRIVES 4 8 8

ADVANCED CAPACITY AND PERFORMANCE REPORTING 4 8 4

GRANULAR REPLICATION (SNAPSHOT, FILE, CARTRIDGE) 4 8 8

DYNAMIC DISK POOLS (DDP) TECHNOLOGY 4 (DXi6900) 8 8

AUTOMATIC BACKUP APPLICATION FILTERS 4 8 (manual) 8

We would like to help you make the best long-term decision for your storage needs. If you are considering purchasing new primary, backup, or archive storage, evaluating an upgrade to existing systems, or assessing your maintenance renewal options, we can help you find the best solution for your needs.

If you have concerns about recent or upcoming Dell or EMC storage purchases, contact Quantum at 800-677-6268 or info@quantum.com. Quantum is offering attractive trade-in programs to help you move to a more stable and viable vendor.

ABOUT QUANTUMQuantum is a leading expert in scale-out storage, archive, and data protection, providing solutions for capturing, sharing, and preserving digital assets over the entire data lifecycle. From small businesses to major enterprises, more than 100,000 customers have trusted Quantum to address their most demanding data workflow challenges. Quantum’s end-to-end, tiered storage foundation enables customers to maximize the value of their data by making it accessible whenever and wherever needed, retaining it indefinitely and reducing total cost and complexity. See how at www.quantum.com/customerstories.

© 2016 Quantum Corporation. All rights reserved. Quantum, the Quantum logo, Artico, Lattus, Q-Cloud, Scalar, and StorNext are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Quantum Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ST01872A-v01 May 2016

www.quantum.com

800-677-6268