Intel said the Intel R212PP Storage System, based on EMC's Clariion AX150 and AX150i arrays, is expected to be available from the Intel worldwide partners in May.

The agreement was announced at the Storage Networking World conference in San Diego last week.

Harry Hoang, a storage practice manager at Helio Solutions Inc., a value-added reseller (VAR) in Santa Clara, Calif., predicted that the deal will quickly improve EMC's low-end storage business.

Oliver Fischer-Samano, IT director at Baerlocher Productions USA LLC in Cincinnati, said he hasn't bought small storage systems from EMC in the past because its sales representatives soured him on the company.

Though the deal doesn't change his mind about EMC, Fischer-Samano, whose firm makes plastic additives, predicts that it will boost EMC's low-end storage business.