EMC Profits, Revenue Soar On Cloud Computing

Analytics Slideshow Calculating Cloud ROI

EMC continued to ride cloud computing, virtualization, and security products and services to new highs in revenue and profits in its third quarter.

Reported Tuesday against a backdrop of unsubstantiated acquisition rumors, the storage giant announced net income of $472.5 million and revenue of $4.21 billion. Both figures set records, and the company said it expected the roll to continue as it raised its projections for the full year.

The company appeared to be hitting on all cylinders, with all major sectors rising, while it also launched its Greenplum appliance, around which it is building a new division.

"Customers are embracing EMC in increasing numbers as a trusted partner for their cloud computing build-outs," said EMC chairman and chief executive officer Joe Tucci in a statement. "To lead this transformational IT wave, EMC remains focused on -- and is taking share in -- markets that are growing considerably faster than IT as a whole." Cloud computing, of course, requires more and more storage and EMC has moved to take advantage of the need.

The company has declined to comment on recent acquisition reports that have the Massachusetts firm on both sides of the equation. First, Oracle was said to be interested in acquiring EMC, and then EMC was said to want to acquire storage firm Isilon Systems. Neither rumor has been acknowledged as being accurate by any of the named parties.

VMware, the virtualization company that is majority-owned by EMC, reported its earnings Monday, including figures showing that VMware contributed $714 million to EMC's top line. VMware said its profit more than doubled, but its stock sank after the company indicated new bookings may be weak.

The big story at EMC, however, remained its effort to cash in on cloud computing, which continues to intrigue IT enterprise managers who are interested in consolidating their data centers and saving money on energy bills.

David Goulden, EMC's executive VP and CFO, summed up the company's major approach as follows: "Cloud computing is driving a fundamental change in the way IT is designed and managed, represents a massive opportunity, and is happening now in various phases across the globe. Our strategy and business model remain strong, and our investments continue to pay off."

For Further Reading

EMC Introduces Greenplum Data Appliance

EMC Improves VMware vSphere Storage Integration

VMware Stakes Out Data Center Cloud Leadership