Not everyone was impressed when EMC bought VMware in 2004. A lot of people on Wall Street had problems understanding why an old-line storage giant would want to play in the highly specialized virtualization arena. Those days are over. Not only has VMware turned into the hottest tech IPO of the year, the high tide is also lifting EMC’s boat (remember EMC still owns a majority stake in VMware). On Monday, a gaggle Not everyone was impressed when EMC bought VMware in 2004. A lot of people on Wall Street had problems understanding why an old-line storage giant would want to play in the highly specialized virtualization arena. Those days are over. Not only has VMware turned into the hottest tech IPO of the year, the high tide is also lifting EMC’s boat (remember EMC still owns a majority stake in VMware). On Monday, a gaggle of Wall Street analysts published bullish notes on EMC, most mentioning that VMware is really the apple (no pun intended) of their eye. As a result, EMC’s long-suffering investors got quite a boost as shares jumped $1.48 or nearly 8% to close at a new 52-week high of $20.51.Citigroup analyst Paul Mansky upgraded EMC to a buy saying that the long terms benefits of associating with virtualization “are compelling” for EMC, while Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff called EMC “a low-cost way to play VMware.” In case you hadn’t noticed, shares of VMware have roughly tripled since coming out the gate during the summer and there’s some feeling on Wall Street that they might be a little rich. Therefore, buying EMC is seen as a bargain-basement bet on VMware.Despite the inevitable increase in competition, VMware still holds a better than 80% share of its market and recently reported an 83% jump in revenue in the first six months of the year.EMC has not been a favorite of investors, but Neff made a point of praising the company as a whole: “From a larger perspective, we see EMC as more than just a storage play: We also see that EMC management has been adept at finding the ‘next big thing’ in IT spending [high-end and mid-range storage, software] and growing those nascent businesses, enabling overall EMC to continue to grow,” he said in a note to clients. Indeed, I bought (a modest number) of EMC shares a while ago for exactly those reasons. You can read and hear a lot more about virtualization by checking out our special report, Vitualization on the Front Lines.I welcome your comments, tips and ideas; reach me at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net Technology Industry