Joe Tucci |
EMC has, perhaps, allowed too much friction between different parts of the multiple businesses that comprise the EMC Federation. The company, however, continues to pin its future on the unusual organisation that is trying to bring together multiple different technologies into a larger solution, EMC's top executive recently told investors.
EMC Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci late last week told investors at the Wells Fargo Securities Tech, Media & Telecom Conference that the EMC Federation, by focusing on a software-defined world, is already resulting in new business for the company.
The EMC Federation includes EMC Information Infrastructure; virtualisation leader VMware; big data and custom app platform developer Pivotal; and security technology developer RSA.
EMC in October moved to absorb VCE - its joint venture with Cisco Systems to develop preintegrated Vblock converged infrastructure solutions - into EMC by purchasing much of Cisco's equity in VCE. That move makes VCE the newest part of the EMC Federation.
Tucci, responding to a question from Wells Fargo Securities analyst Maynard Um, said that the EMC Federation, by bringing together some overlapping technologies being developed under the overall EMC umbrella, has caused some friction between the various parts of the company.
"I think some friction is good," he said. "And, to be honest, there is more friction than we should have today."
With the EMC Federation, EMC has developed a model that continues to morph over time even as it has produced a lot of value, Tucci said.
The EMC Federation model has three tenets, Tucci said. The first is a similar vision among the different components about where the market is going. The second is a common strategy for building software-defined data centres. In both cases, EMC is doing well, he said.
The third tenet is the separate missions of the different parts of the EMC Federation, some of which overlap by design, Tucci said.
"Think of [VMware's] VSAN and EVO: RAIL being a good [example]," he said. "It sounds like it’s competitive, but it’s not. But underneath it, on the third level, which we haven't done very well, a good enough job - it’s my fault - is you need to operationally align and say, 'When are you going to operationally align around sets of customers? When are you going to operationally align around new market activities?'"
Next: Understanding the EMC Federation