ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Dec. 20, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq:QLGC), the leader in Fibre stackable switches, today announced that its entire SANbox(r) 5000 Series of Fibre Channel stackable switches has earned The Tolly Group's prestigious "First & Foremost" designation. The "First & Foremost" certification program was designed by The Tolly Group to provide end users with independently demonstrated proof of vendors' leadership claims and recognize significant vendor achievements that benefit customers. The Tolly Group awarded the "First & Foremost" certification to QLogic for shipping the industry's first stackable family of Fibre Channel switches, the QLogic SANbox 5000 Series. The value of the stackable architecture was validated in extensive lab testing conducted by The Tolly Group engineers and analysts.
"The SANbox 5000 represents the first stackable switch supporting Fibre Channel that has come through our lab, which makes it deserving of our First & Foremost award," said Kevin Tolly, president and chief executive officer, The Tolly Group. "Our testing shows why this architecture, which has been so successful in the Ethernet world, is the best approach for many storage networking customers, as opposed to traditional fixed port or chassis switch models. The SANbox 5000 Series offers the advantages of fixed port economics with scalability that rivals chassis switches."
The Tolly Group's lab tests are documented in a 23-page comprehensive report, "Architecture in Action: Building SANs with Stacks." The complete report is downloadable free of charge on the Tolly Group website at http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=206124.
"This rigorous study, conducted by a globally respected evaluator, proves the business and technology advantages of our stackable architecture for both enterprises and SMBs," said Jesse Parker, vice president and general manager, QLogic Switch Products Group. "With all the necessary software included with the first purchase and its unique stackable architecture, the SANbox 5000 Series gives businesses of any size the availability to start small today and grow dramatically larger tomorrow."
During real-world, comparative testing, The Tolly Group concluded that QLogic SANbox 5000 Series switches provide SAN customers with a superior option than fixed-port or chassis switch platforms from leading competitors.
Key findings include:
* The SANbox 5000 Series works harder to protect data. Only the
SANbox 5000 Series uses non-disruptive port licensing. This
means administrators can activate ports without affecting
data running across other active ports. With other SAN
solutions, data transmitted across existing ports could be
lost when new ports are activated.
* The SANbox 5000 Series costs far less than competitive
solutions. On a cost-per-usable-port basis in a 64-port
configuration, the SANbox 5600 Series costs an average of
$590 per port versus $1,335 for the Brocade 4100 and $1,753
for the McDATA Spherion 4500.
* No ports are wasted on the SANbox 5000 Series. The unique
design of the SANbox 5000 Series, with dedicated, high-speed
(10Gb) inter-switch links (ISLs), means user ports are not
wasted on linking switches to each other. Competitive switch
products tested must dedicate user ports for stacking switches,
thereby reducing the number of available user ports and
increasing hardware requirements.
* No software markups after the purchase. Key functionality
and management software is included in the price of the
QLogic SANbox 5000 Series, while other companies charge on
an a la carte basis.
Two-Pronged Evaluation Strategy
In the first part of the study, The Tolly Group engineers and analysts from the company's lab facility in Boca Raton, Florida "built out" an actual SAN using two alternative offerings. The goal was to illustrate the configuration effort and to quantify hardware and software requirements associated with growing a SAN from an entry-level setup, connecting just two Fibre Channel devices, through to a point where scores of devices could be connected.
In the second part, engineers and analysts built and validated a cost model comparing the QLogic solution versus several leading non-stackable alternatives. Where appropriate, they evaluated and assessed the packaging of advanced software and calculated the relevant cost factors associated with scaling the network. The complete report is downloadable free of charge on The Tolly Group website at http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=206124.
About Tolly Group
The Tolly Group provides third-party validation services to leading vendors of Information Technology products, components and services and has been active in the area of "hands-on" technology evaluation since 1989. While performance testing and technology evaluations often are at the center of client engagements, The Tolly Group goes beyond test results to furnish clients with the business context for performance data and assist in maximizing the marketing message driven by technology evaluations.
About QLogic
QLogic is a leading supplier of high performance storage networking solutions including Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs), blade server embedded Fibre Channel switches, Fibre Channel stackable switches, iSCSI HBAs, iSCSI routers and storage services platforms for enabling advanced storage management applications. The company is also a leading supplier of server networking including InfiniBand host channel adapters that accelerate cluster performance. QLogic products are delivered to small-to-medium business and large enterprises around the world via its channel partner community. These products are also powering solutions from leading companies, including Cisco, Dell, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance and Sun Microsystems. QLogic is a member of the S&P 500 Index. For more information, go to www.qlogic.com.
Note: All QLogic-issued press releases appear on the Company's website (www.qlogic.com). Any announcement that does not appear on the QLogic website has not been issued by QLogic.
Disclaimer - Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements relating to future results of the Company (including certain beliefs and projections regarding business trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements. The Company advises readers that these potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: potential fluctuations in operating results; gross margins that may vary over time; revenues may be affected by changes in IT spending levels; the stock price of the Company may be volatile; the Company's dependence on the storage area network market; the ability to maintain and gain market or industry acceptance of the Company's products; the Company's dependence on a limited number of customers; seasonal fluctuations and uneven sales patterns in orders from customers; the Company's ability to compete effectively with other companies; declining average unit sales prices of comparable products; a reduction in sales efforts by current distributors; dependence on sole source and limited source suppliers; the Company's dependence on relationships with certain silicon chip suppliers; the complexity of the Company's products; sales fluctuations arising from customer transitions to new products; the uncertainty associated with SOX 404 compliance; environmental compliance costs; terrorist activities and resulting military actions; international economic, regulatory, political and other risks; uncertain benefits from strategic business combinations; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; recognition of compensation expense related to employee stock options and the Company's employee stock purchase plan; the decreased effectiveness of equity compensation; difficulties in implementing smaller geometry process technologies; the ability to protect proprietary rights; the ability to satisfactorily resolve any infringement claims; reliance on third party licenses; the use of "open source" software in our products; changes in our tax provisions or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income tax returns; computer viruses and other tampering with the Company's computer systems; and facilities of the Company and its suppliers and customers are located in areas subject to natural disasters.
More detailed information on these and additional factors which could affect the Company's operating and financial results are described in the Company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed, or to be filed, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company urges all interested parties to read these reports to gain a better understanding of the many business and other risks that the Company faces. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and the Company does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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