LenovoEMC Limited today announced the next generation of the award-winning LenovoEMC LifeLine operating system for its Iomega-branded network storage solutions. LifeLine 4.0, available next week as a free-of-charge download for owners of StorCenter ix and px series network storage products, includes new and improved enterprise computing and security features for easy and efficient storing, sharing and protecting of data for organizations and work groups of all sizes. LenovoEMC-branded network storage devices with LifeLine 4.0 are expected to debut in May.

"LenovoEMC LifeLine 4.0 improves upon our previous version of LifeLine, bringing advanced computing options and capabilities to our network storage products that organizations of all sizes can benefit from," said Eric Arcese, president and general manager, LenovoEMC Ltd. "Businesses today need rock solid, dependable, affordable and innovative network storage, and this new version of LifeLine brings those attributes together with an intuitive menu of choices that can be tailored to the needs of any organization. Existing and new customers will benefit from the latest technology embedded in the new version of LifeLine."

Micron Technology today announced another addition to its growing lineup of solid state drives (SSDs) targeted at data center appliances and enterprise storage platforms. The new Micron P410m SSD is a high-endurance, high reliability 6 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drive built to provide the performance necessary for mission-critical tier 1 storage applications that require uninterrupted, 24/7 data access.

SAS is preferred in these applications due to its dual-port interface, which offers the high availability and accessibility customers have come to expect from a SAS drive. The new Micron P410m provides the consistent low latency and balanced read/write performance necessary for tackling the unique workloads of persistent data storage.

Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues posted year-over-year growth of 3.3%, totaling just over $5.9 billion, in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. For the quarter, the total disk storage systems market posted just under $7.9 billion in revenues, representing 3.7% growth from the prior year's third quarter. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped reach 7,104 petabytes, growing 24.4% year over year.

"The external disk storage system market continues to exhibit steady growth, posting solid third quarter factory revenues of just over $5.9 billion," said Liz Conner, senior research analyst, Storage Systems. "End users continue to invest in storage infrastructures despite persistent concerns surrounding global and regional economies. Helping to drive the worldwide market in the third quarter was the double-digit growth in multi-protocol storage architecture and strong demand for upper mid-range and high-end storage."

Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, today reported its first quarter results for the period ended October 27, 2012. Cisco reported first quarter net sales of $11.9 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $2.1 billion or $0.39 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.6 billion or $0.48 per share.

"We delivered record results this quarter -- with revenue growth of 6 percent and strong earnings per share growth -- demonstrating our vision and strategy are working," said John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer, Cisco. "Our innovation engine, operational discipline and on-going evolution are enabling us to differentiate in the market."

Lenovo Group today reported results for its second fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2012. Outgrowing the market in all geographies, Lenovo continued its push towards becoming the number one vendor in the PC industry, with record quarterly sales of $8.7 billion, an 11 percent increase year-over-year. While growing faster than the top four PC companies for three straight years, Lenovo also turned in another quarter of record pre-tax income at US$204 million, evidence that the Company continues to build upon its track record of profitable growth.

During the second fiscal quarter, Lenovo's worldwide PC shipments grew 10.3 percent, in a difficult market that was down eight percent year-over-year, the 14th quarter in a row that the company has grown faster than the PC industry as a whole. In this challenging environment, Lenovo achieved its highest-ever worldwide market share of 15.6 percent*, gaining share points in every geography, every product category in which it competes, and in every respective customer segment.

Today, leading technology companies announced the creation of the Cyber Security Research Alliance (CSRA). The CSRA is a private, non-profit research consortium formed in response to the growing need for increased public-private collaboration to address complex problems in cyber security. The founding members of the CSRI are Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Honeywell, Intel Corporation, Lockheed Martin, and RSA/EMC.

President Obama has prioritized cyber threats as one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation and a dependency to America's economic prosperity in the 21st century.

Iomega, a global leader in data protection, today announced the worldwide availability this month of the new Iomega StorCenter px12-450r Network Storage Array, multi-protocol networked data storage for small and medium business, remote office/branch office installations and distributed enterprises. The StorCenter px12-450r features the new Intel Xeon Processor E3-1200 v2 Product Family, 8GB RAM, improved user supportability and the option of 4TB hard disk drives (HDD). Additionally, the StorCenter px12-450r utilizes the latest version of the EMC LifeLine software, an advanced operating system that makes EMC's enterprise class expertise and cloud capabilities available to a broad range of users.

Lenovo and EMC Corporation today announced a broad partnership that enhances Lenovo's position in industry standard servers and networked storage solutions, while significantly expanding EMC's reach in China and other key, high-growth markets. The new partnership is expected to spark innovation and additional R&D in the server and storage markets by maximizing the product development talents and resources at both companies, while driving scale and efficiency in the partners' respective supply chains.

"Today's announcement with industry leader EMC is another solid step in our journey to build on our foundation in PCs and become a leader in the new PC-plus era," said Yuanqing Yang, Lenovo chairman and CEO. "This partnership will help us fully deliver on our PC-plus strategy by giving us strong back-end capabilities and business foundation in servers and storage, in addition to our already strong position in devices. EMC is the perfect partner to help us fully realize the PC-plus opportunity in the long term."

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the new Iomega StorCenter px12-450r Network Storage Array, multi-protocol networked data storage for small and medium business, remote office/branch office installations and distributed enterprises. The StorCenter px12-450r features the new Intel Xeon Processor E3-1200 v2 Product Family, 8GB RAM, improved user supportability and is ready for 4TB* hard disk drives (HDD) and 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) networks. Additionally, the StorCenter px12-450r utilizes the latest version the EMC LifeLine software, an advanced operating system that makes EMC's enterprise class expertise and cloud capabilities available to a broad range of users.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the addition of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise to all Iomega StorCenter PX series network storage products.

The combination of McAfee running natively on the Iomega PX series network storage products represents an industry first: an enterprise-class endpoint protection product running natively on desktop and rackmount network storage products designed specifically for small and medium businesses, remote office/branch office installations, and distributed enterprises.

Dell today announced a new financing program to support customers migrating from EMC and NetApp legacy storage products to Dell storage arrays.

The new Dell Storage Swap program provides cash credits and attractive lease terms for customers retiring EMC CLARiiON CX, Celerra and VNX, and various NetApp FAS systems and upgrading to new Dell Compellent and EqualLogic virtualized, modular storage arrays. Dell simplifies the transition for customers by offering specialized migration services, award-winning ProSupport and Copilot support and other financial incentives such as Dell Financial Services leasing options. In keeping with its longstanding commitment to green initiatives, Dell will provide safe and environmentally responsible disposal of the obsolete and retired IT equipment.

The Dell Storage Swap program is available to all customers and Dell PartnerDirect resellers in the U.S. and Canada, now through July 31, 2012.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST), a leading supplier of enterprise-class solid state and hard disk drives, today announced that EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) has qualified and is now shipping Hitachi Ultrastar SSD400S SLC-based (single level cell), 2.5-inch, SAS solid state drives (SSD) in its "all Flash" VNX Unified Storage systems for mission-critical Microsoft and Oracle environments. The Ultrastar SSD400S family is the world's first jointly develop SAS and FC enterprise-class SSDs, combining Hitachi GST's proven enterprise HDD strength with Intel's extensive capabilities developing high-endurance SLC NAND flash memory and advanced SSD technology. All of this powers Hitachi GST's leading line SSDs with high endurance, reliability and sustained performance for Tier 0, mission-critical server and storage workloads.

Today Fox Business is reporting U.S. and European regulators approved Google Inc's $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility on Monday and said they would keep a sharp eye on the web search giant to ensure patents critical to the telecom industry would be licensed at fair prices. The U.S. Justice Department also approved an Apple Inc -led consortium's purchase of a trove of patents from bankrupt Canadian company Nortel Networks.Both the Justice Department and European antitrust authorities said that they would monitor how patents are used to ensure they comply with antitrust rules. Antitrust enforcers on both sides of the Atlantic are concerned that patents essential to ensuring communications devices sold by different companies work together are licensed for a reasonable fee.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the completion of its new Mac-oriented hard drive line with the launch of the new Iomega eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive, an on-the-go stylish drive with plenty of storage that can withstand drops and still travel easily in a pocketbook or briefcase.

Combined with the recent launches of the Iomega Helium Portable Hard Drive and the Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive, Iomega now has a complete new line of portable and desktop hard drives for Mac users. All three new drives are formatted HFS+ for compatibility with Mac computers right out of the box, making them perfect complements to today's Apple notebooks and desktops.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the new Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive, a speedy, large capacity desktop hard drive styled to match the latest Mac computers with a first-of-its-kind convenient high-powered port to charge your iPad, iPhone and iPod, as well as selection of computer interfaces for connecting peripherals like a printer or other external storage device.

"With the new Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive, Mac users now have a convenient and stylish way to quickly charge their iPads with the bonus of plenty of new storage capacity for their Mac computer," said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega Corporation. "With more than nine million iPads sold in the last quarter alone, the new Mac Companion Hard Drive is the perfect complement for all those iPad owners. This futuristic drive blends effortlessly with the latest Mac computers and the Apple ecosystem of mobile devices. Together, form and function rarely looks as good or works as well as the new Iomega Mac Companion Drive."

Iomega Corporation, an EMC company and a leading innovator in digital storage and protection solutions for consumers and small and medium businesses, today announced new host-powered Iomega External USB 3.0 SSD Flash Drives, rugged solid state drives utilizing the blazing fast speed of the USB 3.0 interface and the security of built-in encryption - the perfect portable storage device for high-end users, creative professionals and others who demand the best in performance, security and portability.

Leveraging EMC's world class solid state expertise and implementation in enterprise network storage solutions, Iomega's new pocket-sized 1.8-inch external USB 3.0 SSD Flash drives will be available in early November in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it is mass producing 100 and 200 gigabyte (GB) solid state drives (SSDs) for use as the primary storage in enterprise storage systems. "By being able to fully meet the rising demand for high-performance and eco-friendly server and storage platforms, SSDs will be able to penetrate the enterprise application market even more rapidly," said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics. "We will continue to deliver SSD solutions with outstanding performance and low power consumption to provide optimal value for data centers and other enterprise storage environments."

The first recipient of the drive will be EMC. "EMC collaborated with Samsung to qualify Samsung's new enterprise-class SSDs for EMC's market-leading midrange storage portfolio," said Joel Schwartz, Sr. Vice President, Common Storage Platform Operations at EMC. Samsung started producing its 3.5 inch 100 and 200GB SSDs last month. Adopting SSDs as a main storage media in storage systems will minimize power consumption as well as enhance overall system performance, leading to a lowering of the total cost of ownership over time.

Iomega, an EMC company and a leading innovator in digital protection solutions for consumers and small and medium businesses, is excited to announce that it is moving to the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface for all Iomega USB 2.0 portable hard drives, beginning with the award-winning line of Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drives. The new all-USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives will feature hardware encryption and super toughness, too, thanks to a drop spec twice the industry average - all at USB 2.0 product prices. This market-leading move continues Iomega's tradition of technology leadership.

"As a market leader in external hard drive solutions, Iomega is proud to be the first to move towards an all USB 3.0 portable hard drive lineup - and at no extra price premium to our customers," said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega Corporation and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. "With a super fast USB 3.0 interface delivering speeds of up to 10 times that of USB 2.0, super tough with a 7-foot drop spec that's twice the industry average and super secure with AES 256 hardware encryption, Iomega's eGo Portable Hard Drives will be the premium must-have portable storage product. Factor in our bundled software Protection Suite with popular titles such as Iomega's QuikProtect, v.Clone and Trend Micro's Internet Security, and that makes Iomega's USB 3.0 eGo Portable Hard Drives an exceptional premium solution at the same price as most entry level basic USB 2.0 products."

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the launch of the exciting new line of Iomega Skin branded Hard Drives, three different 500 GB portable hard drives that pop with unique designs and colors that scream, "Who says portable storage has to be boring?"

In conjunction with the popular Skin Industries, one of the leading alternative "Sports Fashion" brands in America today, Iomega's new Skin Hard Drives feature three compact personal storage models with custom Skin-branded graphics that stand out in a burst of hip culture compared to anything else in the hard drive market today.

eGo Portable Hard Drive with Triple InterfaceIomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the worldwide availability of the new Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive for Mac users, featuring multiple interface connections, a stylish new aluminum design, superior ruggedness and a robust combination of software, all backed with a three-year limited warranty.

Available in three different colors and up to 500GB in capacity, the new Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive for Mac users provides the dependability and versatility to meet today's on-the-go data storage needs.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the latest addition to its network solutions portfolio with the worldwide launch of the new Iomega StorCenter Pro ix4-100. Based on enterprise-class EMC storage technologies, the StorCenter Pro ix4 NAS is up and running in just four mouse clicks, providing small businesses and remote offices with up to 4TB* of networked storage that easily integrates with existing infrastructure for expanded storage, file-sharing and backup of critical business data.

The StorCenter Pro ix4-100 is a four-drive NAS powered by the acclaimed EMC LifeLine software, a fully-developed Linux operating environment and suite of applications that protects your data and performs valuable business tasks above and beyond simple storage, all designed to make it easy to securely store, protect and serve up data when you need it and where you want it. EMC LifeLine software is designed for cross-platform computer support and has the added bonus of allowing for secure, downloadable feature upgrades.

EMC Corporation, world leader in information infrastructure solutions, and Iomega Corporation, best known with its ZIP drive, are joining forces in a definitive agreement for EMC to acquire San Diego-based Iomega in a cash tender offer of $3.85 per outstanding share, or approximately $213 million. The addition of Iomega's products, brand name, route to market and industry expertise will enhance EMC's reach and focus in the rapidly-growing consumer and small business markets. Upon completion of the acquisition, Iomega will serve as the core of EMC's new Consumer/Small Business Products Division. The new division (led by Jonathan Huberman and reporting to Joel Schwartz, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMC Storage Platforms) will also include EMC Retrospect and EMC LifeLine software. EMC plans to build the division around the strength of the Iomega organization, brand, products and partner ecosystem. Find more information about the acquisition here.