COSTA MESA, Calif., Dec. 10, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX) announced today that NEC Corporation has implemented its award-winning InSpeed(tm) embedded storage switching technology into the new NEC iStorage* S2000 Series of midrange storage solutions. NEC has used Emulex's InSpeed SOC 320 chip to create an "SBOD application," which improves the reliability and performance of storage solutions by bringing 2Gb/s switched connectivity to each individual disk drive within the storage array. The first shipments of the new iStorage Model S2800 begin next month in Japan, and to other markets within a few months. NEC expects to introduce additional new midrange storage products that employ InSpeed technology in the future. (*iStorage is the brand name of NEC storage products in Japan.)
"The storage industry's move to switched back-end architectures continues, as does the adoption of InSpeed embedded storage switching technology by major storage providers," said Brian Reed, vice president of Business Development, Emulex Corporation. "New NEC iStorage Model S2800 incorporates a number of unique and highly progressive technologies and capabilities, and we're delighted to count our field-proven InSpeed technology amongst them. With the introduction of the iStorage Model S2800 storage solutions, NEC has successfully delivered enterprise class features, functionality and performance in mid range systems at a surprisingly reasonable price point."
With disk drive rotational speeds of up to 15,000 RPM, a 4 GB/s data path between dual controller cache memories, a RAID 6 double parity feature for additional data security and reliability and advanced diagnostic capabilities that enable preventive disk drive maintenance, the NEC iStorage Model S2800 has "raised the bar" in terms of the capabilities available in mid-range storage solutions.
"The use of Emulex's InSpeed SOC 320 has enabled NEC to successfully deploy a high speed SBOD application within our new iStorage Model S2800," said Chikara Suzuki, Senior Manager, 1st Engineering Department, System File Products Division, NEC Corporation. "This new solution carries all the enhanced reliability and performance benefits that go with a switched back-end architecture and utilizing the Emulex InSpeed technology enables it to scale to use as many as 240 disk drives without suffering either latency effect or performance loss. NEC's customers will benefit directly from the advanced drive level diagnostics and preventive maintenance capabilities implemented in this system-all of which lead to increased system availability and serviceability. We have been pleased with the Emulex engineering group's expertise and support during the design process and look forward to additional collaboration with the Emulex team."
The 20-port InSpeed SOC 320 serves as the core technology for Emulex's latest generation embedded storage switch products. New features of the InSpeed SOC 320-based family of embedded storage switch products include:
-- Automatic Trunking Capabilities-- Multiplies internal bandwidth
with failover pathing for ultra-reliable performance.
-- Drive Fairness and Prioritization -- Prevents drive starvation
and ensures equal access to all drives within the storage array.
-- Continuous Diagnostic and Health Monitoring Capabilities.
-- Cost Reduction-- InSpeed lowers in-field servicing costs and MTTR
(Mean Time To Repair), significantly improving storage system
reliability levels.
-- InSpeed technology provides the ability to increase performance
while scaling to maximize the useable drive count.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (Nasdaq:NIPNY) (FTSE:6701q.l) is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $40 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2003. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com
About Emulex
Emulex Corporation is the world's largest supplier and developer of storage networking host bus adapters and a leading provider of embedded storage connectivity technologies to the industry's top-tier storage and server manufacturers. Emulex was recently named one of Forbes Magazine's 25 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in 2002, and ranked number 15 in Deloitte & Touche's 2003 Technology Fast 50.
The Emulex award-winning product families, including its LightPulse(tm) HBAs and InSpeed(tm) embedded storage switching products, are based on internally developed ASIC, firmware and software technologies spanning both Fibre Channel and IP networking protocols, 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 Apple, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu Siemens, Groupe Bull, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance, StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Xyratex. In addition, Emulex includes industry leaders Brocade, Computer Associates, Intel, McDATA, Microsoft and VERITAS among its strategic partners. Additionally, Emulex and Intel, via a joint development agreement, are pioneering the industry's first storage processors for Serial ATA, Serial Attached SCSI and Fibre Channel interfaces within a single architecture.
Emulex markets to OEMs and end users through its own worldwide selling organization, as well as its two-tier distribution partners, including ACAL, Avnet, Bell Microproducts, Info-X, Netmarks, Tech Data, TidalWire and Tokyo Electron. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at http://www.emulex.com.
EMULEX We network storage
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include the rapidly changing nature of technology, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and enhancements by competitors; fluctuation in the growth of Fibre Channel and IP markets; changes in economic conditions or changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; fluctuations or delays in customer orders; the highly competitive nature of the markets for Emulex's products; Emulex's ability to gain market acceptance for its products; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on third-party suppliers. These and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are also discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q
This news release refers to various products and companies by their trade names. In most, if not all, cases these designations are claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks by their respective companies. *iStorage is the brand name of NEC storage products in Japan.