Cisco to resell EMC storage kit

Cisco is to resell and support storage products and managed services from EMC for remote-office data.

The company is partnering with storage company EMC and will combine its wide area file services (WAFS) technology with EMC's networked attached storage (NAS), which it said will allow company-wide data to be centrally stored and managed.

Cisco will sell two of EMC's products – the NS500 and NS700 – which it intends to package with its open-standards-based Cisco File Engine series, an appliance-based solution that uses WAFS. WAFS is a technology that gives customers fast access to central files from remote locations.

"This enables Cisco to offer a network-enabled solution that spans customer requirements from the branch to the data centre," said Luca Cafiero, senior vice president and general manager of the Data Center, Switching, Storage and Wireless Technologies Group at Cisco.

Cisco has a growing interest in remote storage management: last month it launched its WAFS-based File Engine Series appliance based on technology from its $82m acquisition of Actona last year. It's hardly surprising: with compliance and auditing regulations looming, companies are being forced into investing in better storage devices.

Compliance regulations, such as Basel II and Sarbanes Oxley, dictate that companies must keep data for at least seven years. Chief executive officers whose companies are not compliant with the regulations can face jail.