Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

EMC calls sudden event to reveal 'New business development'

VCE absorption tipped, but let's not forget Cloudfather Tucci's time is nearly up

EMC has given US media less than 24 hours notice of an event at which it will announce a “new business development”.

The event will take place at 0930, Eastern Time, an hour after the company announces its Q3 earnings.

Bloomberg reports the announcement will be Cisco's departure as an active participant in the VCE joint venture, which will be absorbed into EMC. The newswire says Cisco will keep its stake and EMC will start to count VCE revenue as its own.

Other possible reasons for a snap announcement that occur to The Reg include:

  • An announcement about Cloudfather Joe Tucci's future and/or successor;
  • A response to activist investors' calls for VMware to be sold off, which could mean sale some of the 80 per cent of Virtzilla stock EMC holds;
  • EMC spent a long time chatting to HP about a merger, so let's not rule out the possibility of parallel discussions with another titan;
  • A colossal acquisition, even if the likes if IBM's storage business don't look particularly appetising.

If Bloomberg's assertion is correct, it confirms long-held suspicions that Cisco finds it increasingly unpleasant to play in VCE when its partners – EMC and VMware – compete with it on so many fronts. Cisco retaining its stake and continuing to receive a share of profits while retaining a channel for UCS and networking kit sales isn't a terrible exit strategy. VCE's reputed billion-dollar run rate would be a handy boost to EMC as conventional array sales decline. Operating VCE outright would also give EMC a stronger “we're building the next mode of IT” story. EMC's "federated" structure would give VCE room to breathe, so it might not look odd for the storage titan to become a converged systems vendor.

The plot thickens, however, when one considers that EMC has already signalled it will once again become a server-maker, at least for its version of VMware's hyperconverged EVO appliances.

Somewhere in a filing cabinet at EMC is Data General's “how to make servers” manual. If Cisco wants nothing more than a revenue stream, EMC folks might be dusting it off as we speak. Either that, or asking who else might be interested in slipping servers into VCE's cabinets. ®

Similar topics

Similar topics

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like