The White House and EMC -- Cool Brand Affinity

The White House Likes Us! The White House Likes Us!

When I was the PR manager at EMC (long ago), we liked to find customers who were happy about our products and willing to be featured in News Releases.  To my knowledge, 99 out of 100 times, it was us, rather than the customer, who would be issuing the new release and discussing how EMC's technology benefited their operation or business.* 

So it was with delight when I opened my news feed on EMC this morning to see the headline generated by The White House declaring that they were using EMC technology -- and had been using it ever since Obama's first day in the office.  They highlighted this, granted in response to legal inquiries, to show how they have elevated their game. They also detailed why they chose EMC technology. 

In my book, that's pretty cool!  Here is an excerpt from InformationWeek:

In December, the White House agreed to catalog the White House's current e-mail archiving and backup systems, and provide a detailed description of controls that prevent unauthorized deletion of e-mail records.

... [following a suit] in 2007 after reports that millions of White House e-mail records had gone missing after the Bush Administration abandoned an e-mail records management system that had been installed during the Clinton Administration.

According to the letter, the White House has been using EMC's EmailXtender e-mail management software since Obama's first day in office. The letter says the White House chose EMC's product because of its security, central management, ability to automatically and in near-real time capture messages sent even from Blackberries. It also cited the EMC system's ability to archive messages in their original formats and convert them to another format for transfer to NARA's e-records system, and its ability to provide a searchable online archive and audit reports, among other features.

The White House now fully and automatically backs up its e-mails to a secure off-site data center on the second Tuesday of each month, with incremental backups several times each week and "frequent" tape back-ups. Audits verify that only authorized individuals access the repositories and the EMC system alerts the White House if anyone tries to delete an e-mail without permission, the letter says.

So my mother may not yet fully get who EMC is, and what the company does for the world -- but THE WHITE HOUSE does! I'm good with that.

*I remember our first news release with Delta, back around 1992.  They said they could get the airplanes off the ground faster -- less wait time on the runway for the passengers; more "on-time" status for Delta flights -- because of the EMC information management technology in our Symmetrix products. I still think that's pretty cool.

-------------------- Talk Back ---------------------

Good brand affinity, yes?

I see the White House brand as enduring and quality -- which manages to rise above the popularity ratings or scandals at any given time in the Executive Office.

- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson