Information storage and management specialists EMC Corporation just set a new industry benchmark for what it calls "affordable, easy-to-use networked storage" with the introduction of the EMC CLARiiON AX100 - a customer-installable networked storage system capable of storing up to three terabytes of information.

Joe Tucci, EMC's President and CEO, said, "EMC has, by far, the most comprehensive networked storage lineup in the industry. We've taken many of the features found in our CLARiiON CX systems and have integrated them into the EMC CLARiiON AX100. This system will give our customers an entry point from which they can scale and effectively manage their information throughout its lifecycle."

The CLARiiON AX100 extends EMC's reach into the market for small-to-medium size businesses and will be delivered primarily through distribution, reseller, and OEM partners worldwide. It was specifically designed to allow customers to move from internal server-based disks to external direct-attached storage, SAN, or NAS environments.

"Our partners helped us define a market opportunity that was being underserved," Tucci continued. "As customers realize that their current infrastructure can't support their huge information growth, our partners are in a unique position to integrate the CLARiiON AX100, a system that meets the budget needs of even the most cost-conscious customers."

EMC believes CLARiiON AX100 is the industry's most affordable, easy-to-install networked storage system, with Wizard-based storage management, a user-friendly interface for installation and monitoring, and an automated path failover capability that facilitates data flow through alternate I/O channels between the server and the CLARiiON AX100, enabling continuous application availability.

Supporting Windows, Linux and NetWare operating environments, the CLARiiON AX100 can scale up to three terabytes of capacity and is available from EMC's worldwide channel and distribution network at prices starting under $5,999.