Data Storage Firms Put Faith in Consumers

With recession-conscious businesses spending less on storage hardware and software, tech firms EMC(EMC Quote) and Hewlett-Packard(HPQ Quote) have fixed their sights firmly on consumers.

For years, consumers have been using storage technology such as USB drives to back up documents, although tech firms are now touting much more sophisticated systems that can store and share the likes of movie and music downloads.

EMC, for example, will launch products aimed at homes and small business at the Consumer Electronics Show this month in Las Vegas. The Hopkinton, Mass.-based firm plans to unveil 1-Tbyte and 4-Tbyte versions of its recently launched StorCenter ix2 system in an attempt to tap into the explosion in consumer data, according to Joel Schwartz, senior vice president of EMC's common storage platform operations. ...