EMC -- the DL3D 3000 and DL4000 -- that use rebranded deduplication software from Quantum and FalconStor and a disk-based backup appliance -- the Disk Library 3D 1500 -- that uses Quantum's software. During the Data Domain acquisition process, EMC CEO Joe Tucci said the other deduplication products would be complementary to Data Domain's. But Quantum CEO Rick Belluzzo said in an interview with Computerworld this week that he expects his company's reseller agreement with EMC to begin its decline over the next year or so.

Excerpts from that interview follow:

He has not been totally clear, because, frankly, he hasn't really known how this would all sort out. There was a lot of internal debate within EMC about what we offer as opposed to what Data Domain offers. I think they need to sort that out.

We believe Data Domain and [Quantum] have been moving toward the same place, and because of that, over time our technologies can't be complementary. They may be complementary in the short term, because of our enterprise focus with our VTL [virtual tape library] strength and Data Domain's midrange NAS focus. But we've been moving down stream and they've been moving up. It's a collision course.

It's important to note that EMC resells our tape archive system ... and he [Tucci] indicated that it will continue as an important part of their focus.