EMC Corp. Chief Executive Joseph Tucci said Tuesday that Oracle Corp.'s deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. raises the stakes in the competition for control of corporate data center markets.

It will change the game to some degree, Tucci said when asked about his views on the deal, Dow Jones reported. Tucci was speaking during a conference call after EMC reported its first-quarter results.

He said many of Oracle's customers rely on EMC for their data storage requirements, adding that EMC and Oracle have conflicting views on how to best serve the market.

EMC quarterly results

Meanwhile, EMC posted a first quarter net profit off $194.1 million or 10 cents per share compared to 12 cents in the same period a year ago.

Sales fell 9.2 percent to $3.15 billion from $3.4 billion a year earlier, below the average of Wall Street estimates of $3.25 billion.

The company said it expects corporate IT spending in Q2 to be about flat with Q1, with an improvement later in the year, as overall IT spending will decline in the very-high single-digit to very-low-double-digit range compared with 2008.

We expect IT spending to improve in the second half of 2009 as customers will have better budget visibility, be further through their own restructuring programs and broader stimulus packages should be underway, Tucci said in a statement.

EMC also plans to cut 5 percent of employee's salaries or $100 million a year in a cost restructuring from its previous cuts of $350 million, Barron's reported.

Shares of EMC fell 65 cents, or 5.12 percent, to $12.05 in late afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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