EMC on the rise

Just how much money is there in storage? That was the question I had to ask myself as I ventured around EMC's well-attended customer conference in Sydney this week.

Over 2,000 people registered to attend EMC Inform in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland this month, the best year's attendance yet, according to EMC. It was certainly evident at the Sydney event. Sessions-a-plenty spruiked EMC products to a captive audience, the vendor even getting away with a CIO panel that somehow didn't feature any CIOs.

The attendance, coupled with my conversations with EMC management, led me to conclude that this is one cashed-up vendor.

EMC management reminded me several times that "EMC is the seventh largest software company in the world", and if you look at its recent acquisition history, and CEO Joseph Tucci's indications that more will follow, surely EMC can only get bigger.

On top of this, they've recently announced a global services organisation, and haven't been shy about its ambitions, ie IBM Mark II.

I wonder how all this translates to your dealings with EMC? Have you switched to EMC of late because of superior products or service? Or is the vendor using its market clout to milk your IT budget dry?