COSTA MESA, Calif., Aug. 2, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX) announced today that NEC Corporation has implemented its award-winning InSpeed(tm) embedded storage switching technology into the new NEC iStorage* S2400, S1400 and S400 Series of midrange and entry-level storage solutions. NEC has used Emulex's InSpeed SOC 320 to create an "SBOD application," which improves the reliability and performance of storage solutions by bringing 2Gb/s switched connectivity to each individual disk drive within the storage array. The first shipments of the new NEC storage solutions, including Models S2400, S1400 and S400, begin August 5 in Japan, and are expected to ship to other markets within a few months.
"The storage industry's continued migration to switched back-end architectures reinforces the value of InSpeed technology, and with more than 2 million InSpeed ports shipped, we are confident in its ability to provide customers with significant improvements in storage solution RAS (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) and performance," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing, Emulex Corporation. "NEC has now implemented Emulex's industry-leading, field-proven InSpeed technology in multiple solution lines, underscoring its effectiveness in real world application environments. With the introduction of the iStorage Model S2400, S1400 and S400 storage solutions, NEC has now extended the most advanced disk array functionality and performance available to their midrange and entry-level SAN customers."
InSpeed Embedded Storage Switches have now become the industry standard for connecting disk drives in the back-end of storage systems. The InSpeed SOC 320 is Emulex's latest generation of 2 Gb/s embedded storage switch technology, incorporating a host of innovative features and functionality that are an outgrowth of Emulex's years of experience in helping solution providers integrate advanced switching architectures into their disk arrays. The NEC iStorage Model S2400 combines the benefits of the InSpeed SOC 320 with additional state-of-the art technologies such as disk drives carrying rotational speeds of up to 15,000 RPM, a 4 GB/s data path between dual controller cache memories, advanced diagnostic capabilities that enable preventive disk drive maintenance and up to 120 disk drives providing 13 terabytes of storage. The NEC iStorage Model S2400, S1400 and S400 establishes a new paradigm in terms of the capabilities available in midrange and entry-level storage solutions.
"The success NEC has experienced with its InSpeed-based midrange and enterprise storage solutions made it a very logical choice for us to deploy an InSpeed-based SBOD application within our new midrange and entry-level iStorage series," said Kazuyuki Fujiwara, Senior Manager of System File Products Division, NEC Corporation. "This new solution offers all the enhanced reliability benefits that go with a switched back-end architecture, and utilizing the Emulex InSpeed SOC 320 made it easy for NEC to deliver point-to-point switched connectivity to the individual drives in the storage array, and enable new diagnostic and preventative maintenance capabilities. We look forward to working with Emulex to ensure delivery of leading-edge storage solutions for all segments of the market."
About the Emulex InSpeed SOC 320 Embedded Storage Switch
The 20-port InSpeed SOC 320 serves as the core technology for Emulex's 2 Gb/s embedded storage switch products. Features of the InSpeed SOC 320-based family of embedded storage switch products include:
-- Automatic Trunking -- Multiplies internal bandwidth with failover
pathing for reliable performance.
-- Drive Fairness and Prioritization -- Prevents drive starvation
and ensures equal access for all drives within the storage array.
-- Advanced Diagnostics, Performance Monitoring and Fault Isolation
automatically ensure maximum storage system availability and
performance.
-- Compatibility with previous generation InSpeed Embedded Storage
Switch products.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (Nasdaq:NIPNY) (FTSE:6701q.l) is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of 4,906 billion yen (approx. $47 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2004. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com.
About Emulex
Emulex Corporation is the world leader in Fibre Channel HBAs and delivers a broad range of intelligent building blocks for next generation storage networking systems. Emulex was named one of Forbes Magazine's 25 Fastest Growing Technology Companies, and ranked number 15 in Deloitte & Touche's 2003 Technology Fast 50.
The world's leading server and storage providers rely on Emulex HBAs, embedded storage switching and I/O controller products to build reliable, scalable and high performance storage solutions. The Emulex award-winning product families, including its LightPulse(tm) HBAs and InSpeed(tm) embedded storage switching products, are based on internally developed ASIC, firmware and software technologies, and offer customers high performance, scalability, flexibility and reduced total cost of ownership. The company's products have been selected by the world's leading server and storage providers, including Dell, EMC, Fujitsu Ltd., Fujitsu Siemens, Groupe Bull, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance, Quantum Corp., StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Xyratex. In addition, Emulex includes industry leaders Brocade, Computer Associates, Intel, McDATA, and Microsoft among its strategic partners. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at http://www.emulex.com.
EMULEX -- We network storage
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include the rapidly changing nature of technology, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and enhancements by competitors; fluctuation in the growth of Fibre Channel and IP markets; changes in economic conditions or changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; fluctuations or delays in customer orders; the highly competitive nature of the markets for Emulex's products; Emulex's ability to gain market acceptance for its products; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on third-party suppliers. These and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are also discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q.
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This news release refers to various products and companies by their trade names. In most, if not all, cases these designations are claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks by their respective companies.
*iStorage is the product name of NEC storage products in Japan.