EMC launches Unity in bid to hog all-flash market

New mid-range array starts from $18,000

EMC has launched a new mid-range all-flash array it claims will help it beat rivals which have just one product in the highly competitive market.

At EMC World in Las Vegas this week, the vendor unveiled Unity, which it is positioning as a "highly affordable" file and block storage array for small and medium-sized IT departments.

EMC's XtremIO is its main flash offering, and back in February it launched another product in the space - VMAX All Flash. Hot on the heels of that, Unity was unveiled at EMC World by David Goulden, CEO of EMC's Information Infrastructure business.

The new Unity product starts under $18,000, with a hybrid version priced at under $10,000.

EMC's vice president for product and marketing for XtremIO Josh Goldstein told CRN that having another all-flash string to its bow makes the company stand out.

"The launch of Unity is very important for us," he said. "EMC has always been a portfolio company and I liken it to Tesla. They have always been disruptive and they brought out the Model S but that doesn't cover everyone's needs in a car, so they brought out an SUV and now they have a smaller car. It is much the same with us for flash. XtremIO came out - that is our model S - then we had something bigger, which was VMAX. Now we have something more economical, which is Unity.

"It helps us cover the whole market. The all-flash market is getting big enough now - in the beginning there were five arrays out there and customers would look at all of them. Now [flash] is specific enough that people are buying it for different purposes."

The all-flash space is extremely competitive, and as soon as EMC announced the new product, rival Tintri released a blog describing it as "more lipstick on the pig".

Goldstein defended EMC's decision to have multiple products in the same area, claiming the only companies which say more than one product is too many are the ones with a sole offering themselves.

"You could say the same thing about BMW - do they need all those cars in the line-up?" he said. "But when they segment their market and realise how people use their transportation, then you find these niches. We don't have 50 different all-flash arrays - we have four.

"It is still a fairly broad category. So I don't think it is too many. People will criticise it because they are trying to cover a $25bn with one product. For them, they are going to say ‘it is confusing that EMC has more than one', but the reality is that it is the only way you can cover the market. There's no one product which can do everything."