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Bell Announces New Storage Consolidation SAN Solution

The SAN solution is available as both a basic, 216GB, and a high availability, 438GB, configuration and helps VARs deliver the availability, manageability, scalability and security of storage networking environments, within a solution that is price optimized for entry- level SAN environments.

The solution frees Windows NT/2000 customers from complex legacy storage environments by giving them the ability to share storage across the organization and to easily increase storage capacity when needed to reduce direct and indirect costs. Pre-tested and pre-certified by the Bell Micro Solution Center with available documentation, the solution targets departmental SANs and small-to-medium enterprise installations. Including storage, switches, HBAs, media, cables and documentation with optional installation, service, support, and training, the list price starts at under $43k to the end user and provides VARs the ability to deliver a fully configured and supported solution to their customers.

The solutions marry industry leading products: StorageTek Storage Technology Corp, D173 disk subsystem and SANtricity Storage Manager, networked with Brocade SilkWorm 3200 Entry Fabric switches and host bus adapters from Emulex Corporation. The bundle is sourced through the Bell Micro Solution Center and Bell Microproduct's new Enterprise Solutions Division that provides customers in the Americas with a wide variety of storage and infrastructure solutions for complex technology environments and vertical markets.

The Emulex family of HBAs, including the 2Gb/s LP9002L featured in the bundle, offers high performance, standards-based connectivity solutions for both Fibre Channel and Internet protocol (IP) storage networking environments. Emulex host bus adapters provide a unique combination of features required for mission-critical enterprise environments that deliver reliability, high bandwidth, server CPU offload, low latency and scalable connectivity. Emulex HBAs also offer a single operating system driver and a firmware-based architecture, which help to lower the customer's total cost of ownership and reduce management complexity, while enabling a seamless migration path to next generation technologies.

StorageTek's D-Series software suite including SANtricity Storage Manager 8.2, SNAPshot copy and Enhanced SANshare Storage Partitioning combine to offer a new standard of operational flexibility on the StorageTek D173 disk subsystem. The SNAPshot Copy feature provides an instantaneous point-in-time image of a volume non-disruptively and requires only a fraction of disk space. SANshare Storage Partitioning feature allows an end user to consolidate up to 64 separate storage partitions in multi-platform environments.

The SilkWorm 3200 Entry Fabric Switch is an 8-port 2 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel fabric switch that provides a cost-effective storage networking solution to support Windows NT/2000, Linux, and Unix server clustering applications, replace legacy hub or loop switch devices, provide a highly scalable back end for network attached storage (NAS) devices, and serve as a stepping stone to enterprise-wide SAN deployment. Forward and backward compatible with the Brocade SilkWorm product family, the SilkWorm 3200 offers autosensing capabilities to support legacy 1 Gbit/sec environments. Based on the Brocade Intelligent Fabric Services Architecture, the SilkWorm 3200 includes unique Brocade features such as ISL Trunking, Frame Filtering, and advanced hardwareenforced zoning for the highest level of SAN security and full fabric and entry fabric options for optimal flexibility.

"Bell Microproducts is proud to offer this quick, easy-to-deploy storage solution," states Phil Roussey, Executive vice president Enterprise Marketing for Bell Microproducts. "This is the third turnkey offering we as a company have released. SAN development can be a daunting task for resellers, these basic solutions have proven to be a powerful way to both acquaint them with the platform as well as to jump-start them into one of the hottest technology segments available. This solution combines industry leading products from Emulex, Brocade and StorageTek. Backed by our award winning Solution Center, resellers can deploy this with confidence."

"Ideally suited for small and medium business SAN requirements, and enterprise departmental solutions such as server clustering, the SilkWorm 3200 provides the most cost-effective entry point available today for companies moving to storage area networks. Packaged solutions bundled with service and support, like this one from Bell Microproducts, help VARs enable companies move to SANs and enable continuous access to business information, increased application performance, and reduced total cost of ownership of storage environments," said Jeffrey Brooks, Brocade Chief Marketing Officer.

"As one of the leading world suppliers of Fibre Channel host bus adapters, Emulex is pleased to partner with Bell Microproducts, Brocade and StorageTek to bring best-in-class storage networking solutions to the end user community in an easy-to-deploy, fully interoperable bundle," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Emulex Corp. "Emulex HBAs offer a high performance, reliable and scalable connectivity solution, and we are confident that customers will greatly benefit from Emulex's sophisticated HBA architecture."

About Bell Microproducts

Bell Microproducts is an international, value-added provider of a wide range of high-technology products, solutions, and services to the industrial and commercial markets. The company's offering includes semiconductors, computer platforms, peripherals, and storage products of various types including desktop, high-end computer and storage subsystems, fibre channel connectivity products, RAID, NAS and SAN storage systems, back-up products, storage management software, and extensive support, integration and installation services. Bell Microproducts is an industry-recognized specialist in storage products and is one of the world's largest storage-centric value- added distributors.

The company's products are available at any level of integration, from components to subsystem assemblies and fully-integrated, tested and certified system solutions. The company adds value with a broad range of services including testing, software loading, kitting, mass storage system integration, and computer system integration. Trained and certified technical personnel complete each of these processes at Bell Microproducts' ISO 9002 facilities. Bell Microproducts markets and distributes more than 125 brand name product lines, as well as its own BellStor and Rorke Data storage and Trademark computer brands, to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract electronic manufacturing services (EMS) customers, value-added resellers (VARs) and system integrators in the Americas and Europe. More information can be found in the company's SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts Web site at www.bellmicro.com.

About Emulex

Emulex Corporation is a leading supplier and developer of storage networking host bus adapters based on both Fibre Channel and IP networking technologies. The Emulex product families 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 Compaq, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu Siemens, Groupe Bull, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance and Unisys. In addition, Emulex includes industry leaders Brocade, INRANGE, Intel, Legato, McDATA, Microsoft and VERITAS among its strategic partners. Emulex markets to OEMs and end users through its own worldwide selling organization, as well as its twotier distribution partners, including ACAL, Avnet, Bell Microproducts, Info-X, Netmarks, Tech Data, TidalWire and Tokyo Electron. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, CA. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at www.emulex.com.

About StorageTek

StorageTek, a $2 billion worldwide company with headquarters in Louisville, Colo., delivers a broad range of storage solutions for digitized data. StorageTek solutions are easy to manage and allow universal access to data across servers, media types and storage networks. StorageTek is the innovator and global leader in virtual storage solutions for tape automation, disk storage systems and storage networking and is a voting member of the SNIA. Because of StorageTek, customers can manage and leverage their digital assets as their businesses grow and can maximize IT productivity to ensure enterprise-class business continuity. For more information, see www.storagetek.com or call 800-786-7835.

About Brocade

Brocade offers the industry's leading intelligent platform for networking storage. The world's leading systems, applications, and storage vendors have selected Brocade to provide a networking foundation for their SAN solutions. The Brocade SilkWorm family of fabric switches and software is designed to optimize data availability and storage and server resources in the enterprise. Using Brocade solutions, companies can simplify the implementation of storage area networks, reduce the total cost of ownership of data storage environments, and improve network and application efficiency. For more information, visit the Brocade Website at www.brocade.com.