EMC Comes to Terms with Hitachi and Veritas Software

EMC has come to an agreement with two of its competitors in the storage industry. EMC and Hitachi have settled all patent-infringement lawsuits, with both companies agreeing to cross-license patents and disclose APIs to the other company. Under a 5-year agreement, the companies will cross-license intellectual property for mutual releases between EMC and Hitachi subsidiaries Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and Hitachi Computer Products. The API sharing will let each company develop storage management software that will be able to manage both companies' storage systems. Terms of the agreement were confidential except that Hitachi has agreed to make "balancing" payments to EMC.

EMC also announced that has it has agreed to exchange APIs for storage systems and storage software technology with VERITAS Software. The exchange will let each company develop software products that support the other's products. EMC's increased focus on development of storage software management tools has made the company one of VERITAS's biggest competitors. Many storage companies have announced API licensing in the past year, making the lack of agreement between EMC and VERITAS, two of the largest companies in the industry, noticeable.

   http://www.emc.com

   http://www.hds.com

   http://www.veritas.com