Dell not only lost 3Par, the object of its techno-lust, to HP, its madcap pursuit of 3Par also really ticked off EMC, its storage partner of long- standing.

The pair is now in what sounds a lot like marriage counseling trying to repair their relationship and establish a new basis of trust.

During EMC’s Q3 conference call Tuesday morning, CEO Joe Tucci (pictured) said, “Obviously we took a setback as Dell went after 3Par, and obviously cooled things off. We are, again, in discussions to see if we could do something more meaningful and lasting. Both companies would like to do that, but the key is it’ s got to be meaningful, and it’ s got to be lasting for me to tell you that it’ s back on track. I can’ t tell you that yet, but I can tell you we are in serious discussions...”

Dell hasn’t been selling as much EMC storage as it used to lately, but that’ s pretty much true of everything Dell sells.

Tucci said he doesn’t think HP’s acquisition of 3Par is going to change the proverbial storage landscape in any meaningful way. He thinks HP will substitute 3Par “ for their high-end and for business that they previously funneled through Hitachi.”

Anyway, Q3 earnings at EMC were up 58% to $472.5 million, or 22 cents a share, on sales up a better-than-expected 20% to a record $4.21 billion, a tickle attributed to cloud storage.

Product revenues were up 22%, service revenues 17%.

EMC has put a damper on costs and saw its operating margin go from 8.7% to 15.4%. Its gross margin went from 57.3% to 60.5%.

The company raised its full-year guidance figuring it should realize $1.25 on sales of $16.9 billion, up from $1.18 on $16.5 billion. Tucci said the global economy is on the mend – albeit slowly and “ with a few bumps in the road.” He claims EMC is taking share in growth markets.