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TheInfoPro Study Ranks McDATA Highest Among Vendors

McDATA Corporation, a worldwide leader in open, ultra-high availability storage networking solutions, earned the highest overall rating among storage networking and storage management vendors in a recent study conducted by independent research firm, TheInfoPro (TIP). McDATA outranked all other storage and SAN vendors in the study, which interviewed 192 Global 2000 decision makers on their experiences and perceptions of each of the more than 40 companies involved.

"Based on the nearly 200 in-depth interviews with companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase, FedEx, General Motors and Visa, McDATA was the highest-rated company in meeting customer needs and for their product quality. In addition, the qualitative commentary received was very positive on their vision and roadmap," said Ken Male, CEO of TheInfoPro, the independent research firm that conducted the study. "McDATA's overall scores were very impressive, especially considering the fact that it was up against the biggest players in the storage industry. Earning the highest overall score among all other vendors in this test is a testament to McDATA's commitment to the customer, the quality of its product line and its proven track record of fulfilling on its promises."

In reaching its conclusions, TIP interviewed 42 investors, in addition to the 192 storage professionals, to collect and analyze their feedback on future intentions, budget allocations, vendor relationships and investor confidence. McDATA outscored its nearest competitor in the SAN switch vendor category for Quality of Management, Business Strategy and Product Quality. And, McDATA garnered the top score of the entire study in the product quality category.

"McDATA puts the needs and concerns of its customers' and stakeholders' first, and this study validates the success we've achieved in both arenas," said Mike Gustafson, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, McDATA. "The findings of TheInfoPro study are especially important to McDATA because they were directly derived from customer and investor feedback, through an independent study."

About TheInfoPro

TheInfoPro (TIP) is an independent research network and leading supplier of market intelligence for the Information Technology (IT) industry. Transparency is the core of TIP's research process with intelligence delivered without any spin, bias or intermediation. Clients include technology investors, providers and professionals. Based in New York City, TIP maintains an ongoing dialogue with over 500 IT Professionals and technology investors. For more information visit www.TheInfoPro.net.

About McDATA

McDATA is a worldwide leader in open, ultra-high availability storage networking solutions and provides highly available, scalable and centrally managed storage area networks (SANs) that address enterprise-wide storage problems. McDATA's core-to-edge enterprise SAN solutions improve the reliability and availability of data to simplify SAN management and reduce the total cost of ownership.

Contact: Kathleen Sullivan, 720-558-4435, kathleen.sullivan@mcdata.com.