Building on a longstanding relationship of integrating enterprise-class systems, software, services and shared best practices, EMC Corporation and Microsoft Corporation today announced a significant expansion of their alliance to further simplify the delivery of information lifecycle management (ILM) solutions for Microsoft^® application environments. EMC and Microsoft will work together to develop and deliver a portfolio of integrated solutions that will help business customers cost-effectively manage information on the Microsoft server platform.

The expansion includes significant investments and commitments by both companies to joint solution delivery and sales engagement support in order to accelerate customer adoption and simplify deployment of Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003 and SQL Server^™ 2005 Enterprise Edition. Additionally, a worldwide network of partner account managers will be established to drive predictable joint engagement and solution delivery.

EMC and Microsoft have committed to this new framework, which will facilitate the delivery of an ongoing portfolio of joint solutions. The alliance will initially focus on the following three initiatives:

Tony Prigmore, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said, "To maximize return on IT investment and lower risk, organizations are increasingly looking for more tightly integrated application and infrastructure solutions coupled with services expertise to help them integrate all the components. The extension of the EMC and Microsoft alliance leverages the leadership and expertise of the two companies to address customer demands for simple, integrated application and infrastructure solutions."

"For years EMC and Microsoft have worked together to provide customers of all sizes with the best information management and storage solutions optimized for their Microsoft environments," said Howard Elias, EMC Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Corporate Development. "Customers are asking for complete, more integrated solutions, including applications, infrastructure and services delivery expertise. With our strengthened alliance and EMC's expanded Microsoft services practice, EMC and Microsoft are addressing this need. Our goal is to help mutual customers achieve a faster return on their IT investments with lower risk and improved access to information across their Microsoft application environments."

"Today's announcement is yet another milestone in our collaborative efforts to deliver enterprise-class solutions that address our customers' most critical business application needs," said Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President, Microsoft. "EMC and Microsoft are enhancing the delivery of joint solutions by our skilled service professionals, and this commitment will enable customers to optimize their infrastructure with high-performance servers and applications."

In January 2006, EMC significantly expanded the capabilities of its Microsoft Practice within Technology Solutions, its professional services organization, through the acquisition of North America-based Internosis, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and seven-time Microsoft Partner of the Year. The EMC Microsoft Practice delivers services and solutions focused on strategy, application infrastructure, application development and managed services for Microsoft environments. EMC Technology Solutions brings a unique mix of information infrastructure experience and strategic business focus to give customers a full range of consulting, implementation and managed services designed to accelerate customers' ILM strategies.