'Fixed Content' Marks Next Explosion of Information Growth; EMC Unlocks the Value of Fixed Content Through World's First Content-Addressed Storage -CAS- Solution.

Business/Technology Editors

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 2002

EMC Corporation's announcement today of EMC Centera, the world's first content-addressed storage (CAS) solution, shines new light on the burgeoning area of fixed content. Representing more than 50% of the world's newly created data - and predominantly stored in offline formats today - fixed content includes long-lasting, unchanging objects such as electronic documents, digital X-rays, digital MRIs, movies, e-mail, check images and broadcast content, as well as associated information about the content. Through the unique attributes and cost-efficiencies of Centera (see separate release), customers can now bring their fixed-content assets into the world of online storage, unlocking a level of value previously forfeited through the use of alternate storage approaches.

Hal Varian, one of the world's foremost authorities on information and Dean of the School of Information Management, University of California at Berkeley, said, "The recent economic slowdown is a tiny blip relative to the overall information growth trend. Information continues to double every year, and the vast majority of all new digital information is what we call fixed content."

In a recently released analysis, Enterprise Storage Group reported: "The leading growth engine for information and information storage in the coming years will be an information type that starts bigger, grows faster, and consumes more storage than everything else combined worldwide by 2005. This leading driver of growth in information storage capacities will be reference information in its various forms." According to the study respondents, reference information - which is synonymous with fixed content - will represent 51% of new corporate and government information by 2004.

Jim Rothnie, EMC's Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, said, "All information is not created equal. In contrast to dynamically changing data, historical placement of fixed content has mainly been in offline formats such as tape, optical, microfiche and other non-digital media. This is primarily due to the fact that the physical media and management costs associated with the online storage of these capacity-hungry assets have been prohibitive. Virtually all fixed content is moving to digital format today, driven by significant forces such as plummeting storage media costs and the need to have this information readily sharable in a networked environment."

Different Data Types, Different Value Metrics

Dynamically changing data is highly active, update-intensive and delivers value through its ability to change. Direct-attached storage (DAS), storage-area networks (SANs), and network-attached storage (NAS) are optimized for this information type. The value of fixed content comes from its ability to remain verifiably unchanged, accumulate from multi-terabyte to petabyte scale while maintaining simplicity of management, and be readily accessible for decades.

"For many types of fixed content, check images for instance, changes simply cannot be made to the data," Rothnie added. "While the actual processing life of an individual check transaction is brief, the fixed-content stage lasts years or decades. During this stage, the information needs to be both unchanged and readily available. A new storage architecture is required, combining a collection of important new technologies aimed directly at this new class of online storage requirements."

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing the information infrastructure for a connected world. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

EMC is a registered trademark and Centera is a trademark of EMC Corporation.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) further adverse changes in general economic conditions; (ii) further delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) the company's ability to effectively manage operating costs and increase operating efficiencies; (iv) further declines in revenues; (v) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (vi) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, in the computer storage and server markets; (vii) component quality and availability; (viii) rapid technological and market change and the transition to new products; (ix) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines; (x) the effects of war or acts of terrorism, including the effect on the economy generally, on particular industry segments, on transportation and communication systems and on the company's ability to manage logistics in such an environment, including receipt of components and distribution of products; (xi) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xii) the uneven pattern of quarterly sales; (xiii) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xiv) risks associated with strategic investments and acquisitions; (xv) the Company's ability to execute on its plans; and (xvi) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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