EMC losses mark 'across-the-board improvement'

Storage company EMC has reported disappointing results for the first quarter of the year with net losses totalling $97m.

Revenue was down 14 per cent to $1.3bn compared with $1.5bn for the final quarter of last year.

However, Joe Tucci, president and CEO at EMC, remained optimistic, claiming the results reflect 'across-the-board operational improvements' during a time of prolonged IT spending slump.

In a statement, he said the well for new application deployment remained fairly dry, suppressing heavy demand for major new IT projects. He claimed many customers were more interested in speeding up existing internal processes than deploying new systems.

EMC itself has undergone many internal changes. Bill Teuber, CFO of EMC, said the company has saved more than $200m over the last nine months.

The company has also enjoyed a sudden rush in sales of its AutoIS open software applications. More than 1,000 licences have been sold since October last year.