EMC has strengthened its information lifecycle
management strategy with the acquisition of grid software from
information management supplier Acxiom. The data storage provider
also plans to work with Acxiom to develop a hosted grid computing
service.
EMC bought Acxiom's grid software for £17m. The technology was
developed to help users manage their information and carry out
business faster.
EMC, known for its Clariion storage range, has also acquired
information management businesses Documentum and Legato over the
past few years.
EMC and Acxiom plan to jointly develop and market an
information grid system available as a hosted service from
Acxiom.
The project will provide a new utility computing option for
users. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Sun already offer such on-demand
computing services, where computing resources are delivered as and
when required.
EMC said the move would help users take advantage of a more
scalable, flexible grid-based information infrastructure.
Ian Baird, chief technology officer for grid and utility
computing at EMC, said, "The grid software EMC has acquired can be
the engine for any enterprise grid deployment as it is a fully
integrated stack of grid middleware tools including the portals,
user interfaces, data integration and workflow and workload
management security.
"The grid technology allows EMC to link information with the
overall infrastructure it is deployed on, and the applications that
use it, to provide a world where information lifecycle management
is closely tied to information resource lifecycle management."