Dell fending off EMC's maintenance push

Customers who bought EMC kit from Dell before the pair dissolved their relationship are not flooding back to the storage specialist for their support needs, according to Steve Schuckenbrock, President of Dell's services operation.

Speaking at the launch of a new solutions centre in Sydney, Australia, Schuckenbrock said Dell is pleased that not many of its EMC-buying customers have defected, despite what he called a “big push” from EMC to secure maintenance and support deals. Dell resold EMC's midrange SANs for several years, but discontinued the deal after it acquired Compellent. Dell retains maintenance and support obligations for many customers who acquired EMC kit under the now-elapsed resales deal.

“I think that shows where our customers see value,” Schuckenbrock said.

Schuckenbrock made the brief remarks at the opening of a new solution centre in Sydney. The centre is packed full of Dell kit, all humming along in an operational data centre where it awaits customer experimentation. One of eleven around the globe, the Sydney centre is also a centre of excellence for Microsoft's Lync unified communications product.

While Dell kit dominates the solutions centre, the Sydney installation also houses a few HP servers that are intended to help customers understand what it takes to migrate away from them to Dell's rival products.

Schuckenbrock said none of the solution centres house EMC kit, but that Dell has some ready to wheel in if customers want to give it a whirl. Or see what it takes to move from EMC to Compellent. And if customers really, really, want to see how the EMC SANs they bought Dell play with Dell's other hardware, the solution centres will make that possible. ®