CHANNEL NEWS

Crossroads Systems Inc., a developer and manufacturer of storage routers for storage area networks (SANs), entered a partnership with Wyle Systems, a global distributor of computer systems and servers, networking, peripherals and mass storage products.

Under the agreement, Crossroads of Austin, Texas, will be Wyle's exclusive provider of storage routers in Wyle's new Fibre Channel/SAN initiative.

Wyle of Irvine, Calif., is a wholly owned subsidiary of VEBA Electronics, the fourth largest company in Germany and a leading distributor of semiconductors and services.

Wyle will distribute Crossroads' Fibre Channel-SCSI storage routers, including the recently released 4x50 series. These routers allow customers to reduce backup time, and trim equipment and maintenance costs by centralizing data storage, company officials said.Datalink Corp., a Minneapolis-based data storage solutions provider for open systems computing environments, has signed a value-added systems integrator agreement with information storage giant EMC Corp. of Hopkinton, Mass.

The venture enables Datalink to offer the full line of EMC's CLARiiON storage systems to customers nationwide. Under terms of the pact, Datalink will integrate EMC's family of CLARiiON Fibre Channel storage systems and software, including the new CLARiiON FC4500 and EMC Access Logix software, into its suite of direct-attached storage and storage area network solutions.

EMC's CLARiiON systems provide storage consolidation for multiple, heterogeneous hosts (shared access for Sun Solaris, Windows NT, HP-UX and IBM AIX) and provide significant software functionality for the management, sharing and protection of critical information.

"This new agreement with EMC will provide our customers with an industry-leading storage system, new features and functionality as well as a clear strategy and set of additional solutions to support their enterprise storage needs, no matter how large they grow," said Greg Meland, Datalink's president and chief executive officer.IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., has announced an alliance for Product Life-cycle Management solutions that will enable customers worldwide to integrate key product development, product life and strategic business processes.

IBM, along with i2 Technologies of Dallas, Siebel Systems Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., and Dassault Systemes in Suresnes, France, have agreed on architectures to provide companies of all sizes and industries with e-business solutions and services linking Product Lifecycle Management capabilities to customer relationship management, supply chain management and enterprise resource planning.

The alliance builds on existing initiatives and will combine and accelerate delivery of compatible software, consulting and service offerings to address the entire digital extended enterprise, including customer process assessments, implementation road maps and process consulting, through application positioning, solution integration, implementation services and e-business infrastructure, according to a statement announcing the union.

"This alliance brings together best-of-breed e-business solutions for businesses that are striving to innovate and gain a competitive advantage from a digital enterprise environment," said Martin Jetter Jr., IBM's general manager for Product Lifecycle Management.