HOUSTON, TX -- Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) and EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), the two largest global enterprise storage providers, have agreed to cross-license storage system application programming interfaces (APIs). The technology exchange will facilitate each company's development of storage management applications capable of managing both companies' storage systems. Mark Sorenson, vice president of Compaq Enterprise Storage Group's solutions and software division, said, "This agreement from the two leaders in enterprise storage will deliver on customer demand for solutions that work together and can be managed centrally. The licensing of these APIs will enable both companies to tightly integrate storage and storage management products for the benefit of their customers." Don Swatik, vice president of alliances and information sciences at EMC, said, "This exchange is a major step towards meeting customer requirements for open integration in multi-vendor storage environments. This agreement gives both companies the capability to help mutual customers better manage their information." Under the terms of the agreement, Compaq and EMC are cross-licensing APIs to support the development and delivery of storage management products that will support both companies' disk arrays. In addition, the companies will define cooperative support levels so that end users of the new storage management products can be assured that each vendor will provide support for its configurations.