On Monday afternoon at EMC World in Las Vegas, EMC and Box.net announced a partnership that lets users access the Documentum repository directly from the Cloud using Box.

This essentially gives Documentum all of the advantages of mobile-cloud access without having to develop the connection itself. Using Box's existing set-up on iPhone, iPad and Android devices; companies using Documentum can give users instant access to Documentum content wherever they are from many popular mobile devices.

EMC Intelligent Information Group (which is responsible for Documentum) president Rick Devenuti explained in a statement that this gives EMC Documentum customers immediate access from the Cloud. "EMC and Box are enabling our customers' journey to the cloud-taking the user experience for accessing, sharing and collaborating on enterprise content to a new level," said Devenuti.

Given the recent hiring of former EMC marketing executive Whitney Tidmarsh Bouck, this agreement makes even more sense for both parties, but she says discussions were under way long before her decision to join Box. "While my move to Box wasn't predicated on the partnership, I obviously have a vested interest in making sure this partnership is a huge success for both companies," Tidmarsh Bouck said.

Tidmarsh Bouck was obviously thrilled with the agreement. "EMC getting behind Box to deliver more value to their existing and future customers is a fantastic win for Box and our growth in the enterprise market. As more and more enterprises make their way to the cloud, having seamless integration between their on-premise solutions like EMC Documentum and cloud-based collaboration from Box is essential to make that journey an easy one."

Box.net CEO Aaron Levie saw it in the context of a bigger shift in the way enterprise users are accessing content. "These solutions are at the forefront of a major transition in enterprise IT, as vendors will increasingly need to work together to create powerful, open solutions that bring customers the benefits of cloud-enabled software without disrupting their existing systems and processes," Levie said.

Consultant Laurence Hart, who works for Washington Consulting where he helps implement content management systems (including Documentum), weighed in by saying it was a positive development for the EMC Documentum community. "EMC has solved the problem of collaborating with external partners by teaming with a company focused on solving that specific problem, Box," he said.

Hart sees this partnership as a way to enable Documentum users to collaborate with outside entities without sacrificing security by placing content in multiple applications. But he cautioned that it remains to be seen how well this will work in real-world situations.

For more information:
- see the EMC press release

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