Features - Financial Plays Of The Week:

Storability Software SECURES $12 MILLION IN VC

Storability Software, one of the world's leading providers of storage area management (SAM) solutions, has announced that it closed $12 million in venture capital funding. Participants in the financing round include Battery Ventures, Technology Partners, Sprout Group, Lee Munder Venture Partners, additional institutions, and private investors. The funding underscores investor and customer confidence in the firm's market leadership -- coming at a time when venture capital investments are increasingly difficult to obtain.

"Storability Software is uniquely positioned to lead the market in storage management," stated Tim Leisman, Storability Software CEO. "We have industry leading products, powerful partners, and a customer base that are the envy of our competition. This financing gives us the foundation to drive the market, and leave others standing on the sidelines."

Storability led the market in March 2002 with the introduction of Global Storage Manager, the industry's first and most comprehensive Storage Area Management (SAM) software solution for enterprise customers.

"Managing complex, multi-vendor, distributed storage environments is a difficult challenge," stated Scott Hopkins, vice president of systems and operations at Harte Hanks Inc. "Storability's Global Storage Manager is designed to simplify the process. It can be a useful tool for enterprise IT shops."

Global Storage Manager empowers enterprise customers to comprehend their storage environment, control their storage assets, and capitalize on their storage investment. The software is currently installed at money-center financial institutions and large manufacturers worldwide.

"Storability quickly established itself as the winner in storage management software. We pride ourselves on backing the category leaders," said Todd Dagres, general partner at Battery Ventures. "Our investment in Storability Software is clear recognition of their leadership. We are confident Storability will be a dominant player in the storage software market. They have the right team, the right products, and all the momentum."

"Venture capitalists are increasingly cautious in their investments," said John McArthur, group vice president of storage research at IDC. "Raising such a large venture-backed funding round in the current economic climate is a strong endorsement for Storability Software's vision, business model, and management team. This is a company worth watching."

Since its inception, Storability has benefited from strong financial backing and a leadership position in the market. Storability technology and best practices have become the benchmark standard for storage services, and are leveraged today by leading providers of managed storage services, including Hewlett-Packard and StorageTek.

"The technology that Storability developed to deliver managed storage services itself has proven attractive to enterprise customers and large service providers alike," said Adam Couture of Gartner/Dataquest. "As a result, many former storage service providers are scrambling to jump on the software bandwagon. Storability Software's recent infusion of cash is particularly significant given the recent plight of other companies attempting to compete with them in this space."

Storability Inc recently announced the sale of its managed service operations to StorageTek, allowing it to concentrate on developing and delivering storage management software products. The company changed its name to Storability Software in June 2002 to reflect this focus.

"By completely divesting itself of the managed services operation, Storability is showing 100 percent commitment to its software strategy, and obviously the investors like what they see," commented Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group. "Raising money today is no easy task, so hats off to Storability Software for pulling it out. This funding should give the company a nice runway to execute on the new strategy."

About Technology Partners

Technology Partners, www.technologypartners.com, is a 20-year veteran independent venture capital firm that works closely with its portfolio companies, serving principally as the lead investor and taking an active role at early stages of development. Distinguishing itself by participating in the strategic guidance and business development of its portfolio companies, as well as by leveraging its extensive network of contacts and market knowledge, Technology Partners helps entrepreneurs build world-class, highly successful, technology-based companies. Technology Partners manages approximately $400 million of investment capital.

About Sprout Group

Sprout Group, www.sproutgroup.com, has been an institution in venture capital for more than thirty years and is one of the largest firms focused on emerging technologies. The firm actively invests in communications, healthcare technology, Internet infrastructure and software. Sprout Group has helped to establish such household names as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Staples, VeriFone, StrataCom, Corporate Express, SDL and mySimon.

About Lee Munder Venture Partners

Lee Munder Venture Partners (LMVP), www.leemunder.com, provides venture capital to early- and late-stage companies in the Information Technology and Communications industries. LMVP is the venture capital affiliate of Lee Munder Capital Group (LMCG), an investment management firm focused on both public and private equities with approximately $1 billion under management. LMVP works closely with its technology-based portfolio companies by utilizing the venture capital and operational expertise of the venture team combined with the public equity resources of LMCG. With offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and Palm Beach, Florida, LMVP's investment activities cover the eastern coast of the United States and Canada.

About Battery Ventures

Battery Ventures is one of the world's largest venture capital firms specializing in early stage technology investments. With a team of over 50 experienced professionals, Battery leverages its bandwidth, industry expertise, and capital to actively guide emerging technology companies to category dominance. Since 1983, the firm has invested worldwide in over 130 companies across the communications, software and Internet/e-Business industries. From its offices in Wellesley, MA, and San Mateo, CA, the partnership manages over $1.8 billion in committed capital.

About Storability Software

Storability Software is a leading provider of storage area management (SAM) solutions that simplify and centralize the management of complex, multi-site, multi-vendor storage infrastructures. Storability's Global Storage Manager software enables customers to comprehend, control, and capitalize on their storage investment as never before. Customers benefit from increased asset utilization, improved management efficiency, enhanced quality of service, and higher availability. For more information, please visit www.storability.com/, e-mail info@storability.com, or call 508-229-1700.

Contact: Storability Inc, Kirby Wadsworth, 508-229-1700, kirby.wadsworth@storability.com.