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INVIO JOINS HITACHI ALLIANCE TO DEVELOP AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS

Invio Software Inc, the company that is bringing platform independent automation to network storage, has announced availability of automated provisioning and topology management solutions for HDS 99x0 arrays in a heterogeneous SAN environment. Invio will continue to work directly with Hitachi to automate additional storage management processes and extend support to additional Hitachi offerings, leveraging Hitachi's HiCommand APIs and the Hitachi True North developers program. Automated provisioning and topology management is available today, directly from Invio and will also be made available through Invio OEM partners such as BMC Software, later in the fourth quarter of 2002.

Provisioning and topology management for 99x0 arrays ships with the October release 1.11 of Invio Storage Practice Manager. Practice Manager provides centralized control and automation of networked storage environments across the enterprise. With Practice Manager, Hitachi customers can automatically provision the right class of storage resource and data protection from a 99x0 array, across the fabric, through file and volume managers, directly into an application. In addition customers will be able to provision from Hitachi devices that co-exist with EMC arrays, allowing applications to share storage resources in a multi-vendor environment.

"We are pleased to hear Invio's announcement which can add value to Hitachi's Lightning disk array," said Shinpachi Ogata, Department Manager of Alliances, SAN Solution Division, Hitachi Ltd.

"Enterprises are looking for ways to simplify the process of getting the right storage resource to the right application, at the right time -- while ensuring execution of all local and remote steps required for policy compliance," said Ranga Rangachari, CEO of Invio Software. "Doing this in a multi-vendor environment is even harder. Our relationship with Hitachi allows our customers to capitalize on Hitachi's best-in-class offerings, and seamlessly integrate those into a multi vendor shop."

About Invio Software Inc

Invio provides software for centralized control and automation of networked storage environments across your enterprise. With Invio, companies can automatically deliver the right storage resources directly to your applications, according to your best practices. You optimize storage utilization and drive down cost. Invio supports a wide range of automated management processes including: Provisioning, topology management, replica management, and data protection and recovery. By automating these complex repetitive tasks, Invio ensures consistent, auditable execution of all local and remote steps required for policy compliance. You avoid outage, rework and loss of data, while freeing storage experts for high-impact initiatives. Visit www.Inviosoftware.com to learn more.

Contact: Chris Hyrne, Invio Software, 650-813-1200x125, chris@inviosoftware.com.