EMC launches cloud storage for VMware first, Microsoft's Hyper-V later
Built on an entirely new architecture known as the Symmetrix Virtual Matrix Architecture, EMC's new VMax departs from more customary data center storage arrays such as its own DMX-4 through its unprecedented scalability …
Context & Ripple Effects
EMC is repositioning its flagship Symmetrix line around virtualization: the new VMax array replaces the DMX-4 generation on an entirely new Symmetrix Virtual Matrix Architecture, built for scale well beyond the customary data-center arrays it supersedes. The launch sequencing is the strategic signal — VMware integration ships first, Hyper-V support follows later.
That ordering reflects where the enterprise installed base sits in April 2009: VMware remains the default hypervisor in the data centers that buy high-end Symmetrix arrays, while Microsoft's Hyper-V is still building its footprint.
First-order effects
- VMware-based enterprises can buy VMax with native integration immediately, while Hyper-V shops must wait for EMC's later support phase — Microsoft's hypervisor starts life as a second-class citizen on EMC's top-tier array.
- DMX-4 customers get a defined upgrade path onto the new Virtual Matrix Architecture, making this launch also a refresh-cycle lever inside EMC's own installed base.
Second-order effects
- Rivals in high-end arrays — Hitachi Data Systems, NetApp, IBM — are pushed to match the scalability claims of the Virtual Matrix design or cede the 'cloud-ready storage' framing to EMC.
- Microsoft gains a concrete incentive to court storage vendors toward earlier Hyper-V parity, since hypervisor-level support gaps become procurement objections against Hyper-V adoption.
Third-order effects
- Storage arrays are shifting from capacity appliances to platforms whose value is set by which virtualization layer they integrate with first, tying array vendor roadmaps to hypervisor market share.
- If 'VMware-first, everyone-else-later' becomes the standard launch pattern, the hypervisor consolidates its position as the de facto control point of enterprise infrastructure purchasing.
The trend: Enterprise storage is being rebuilt around virtualization platforms, with vendors sequencing their integration roadmaps by hypervisor installed base rather than by protocol support.