EMC will use both its own products and OEM deals to target the consumer market, a company executive said Friday.
Mozy, an online backup and recovery subscription service, will be offered by EMC to consumers under its own brand, said David Goulden, EMC’s executive vice-president and CFO. Mozy became part of EMC after it acquired Berkeley Data Systems in October.
In contrast, the company has tied-up with Intel for Intel-branded storage products that will run EMC’s LifeLine software suite. The product will ship with Intel’s brand and be supported by Intel, although there will be a mention that the product runs LifeLine powered by EMC, Goulden said.
Partnerships like the one with Intel are important for EMC because it is relatively unknown in the consumer market, and building up that recognition alone could be expensive and take time.
LifeLine provides NAS capabilities, back-up and recovery, and file management for consumer systems, Goulden said. EMC decided to partner with Intel because it needed distribution channels that can get the product to the mass market. It also required low-end, near-commodity hardware, which is not EMC’s business, he added.
Goulden did not say if the deal with Intel is exclusive, or if the company might do similar deals with around LifeLine with other vendors. For now, even Dell, which already has an agreement with EMC for enterprise storage products, will have to do a deal with Intel to sell LifeLine, he said.
EMC President and CEO Joseph Tucci said earlier this year that EMC was considering entering the consumer market. EMC plans other products and services for the consumer market besides Mozy and LifeLine, Goulden said. The company will most likely use OEM deals where consumer hardware is involved, he said.