Follow a shopper down an aisle in one of Carrefour�s vast �hypermarkets� around the world, and you might see anything from baguettes to batteries to bedding in his or her cart. There are, after all, more than 100,000 items in stock under one roof � all of them tracked on EMC systems.

Carrefour is the world�s second-largest retailer and the first and largest operator of hypermarkets. Founded in 1963, the company operates more than 9,000 retail stores around the world, more than 700 of them hypermarkets.

In an industry defined by narrow margins and ferocious competition, Carrefour�s strategy is to grow market share by internal growth and acquisition. Its most recent merger with Promodes makes Carrefour the largest retailer in Europe. Its business strategy, in turn, determines its IT strategy.

"When you experience change at the rate Carrefour does, you need IT systems that are open, rock solid, and completely flexible,� says Jeremy Hollows, Carrefour�s Director, Information & Systems.

"In the early days, we were very decentralized. In recent years we have progressively centralized our data center operations, standardizing on open systems: UNIX and NT for servers, Cisco for networking, and EMC for storage.�