BlueArc Announces Next-Generation SiliconServer Network Attached Storage Family.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 2002

New Models Deliver Industry's Greatest Storage Density,

Advanced Features, and 2 Gigabit Fibre Channel

BlueArc Corporation, developer of the SiliconServer(TM) Architecture and the world's only network attached storage (NAS) server designed to scale from 1Gbps to tomorrow's 10Gbps networks, announced today the availability of its next-generation Si8000 SiliconServer NAS systems. The Si8000 family makes it possible to offer high-performance solutions to a broad set of customers who demand industry-leading scalability and performance up and down the enterprise.

In addition, BlueArc announced the availability of its Silicon Update 2.0, providing customer-driven features including Virtual Volumes, Accelerated Data Copy (ADC), Snapshots, Quotas, and Virus Scanning to complement its simplicity and ease of management of Windows, UNIX and Internet (HTTP and FTP) networking environments.

"These new systems and new functionality round out a solid offering," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst, Enterprise Storage Group. "This move takes BlueArc out of the high-performance only niche and puts them squarely in the mainstream. Their performance numbers have always been stellar, and now they layered on the functional requirements to become core data center players."

The Si8000 family brings several industry-leading features to the NAS market with the introduction of 2 Gbps Fibre Channel; Accelerated Data Copy (ADC) for inter- and intra-server high-speed data replication; Virtual Volume Management Services for system administration; and the highest storage density per square foot of any Fibre Channel NAS system.

The Si8000 SiliconServer Network Attached Storage Systems

The Si8000 product line includes the Si8300, Si8700 and Si8900 SiliconServers -- offering a full range of highly scalable, high-performance storage solutions architected to meet the extreme demands of any customer's network environment, from easy-to-deploy departmental solutions to high-end enterprise applications.

The Si8300 SiliconServer brings the speed, scalability and reliability of BlueArc storage systems to the department level or mid-size enterprise. The Si8300 supports up to 7 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity and is the ideal solution for customers with fixed performance and storage requirements.

The Si8700 SiliconServer provides enterprise customers with the ideal system for any application that requires a scalable, high-performance networked storage solution with performance and capacity scaling beyond the Si8300. The Si8700 supports up to 98 TB of storage capacity and delivers an incredible 25.6 TB in a single 42U enclosure in its high-availability configuration, the highest density in the industry for a Fibre Channel NAS solution.

The Si8900 SiliconServer is the first NAS system to offer 2Gbps Fibre Channel to disk. This allows the system to deliver higher performance from disk to network than any other NAS solution available. The Si8900 supports up to 228 TB of storage capacity and is the ideal choice for customers who require the highest levels of NAS performance and/or high-speed backup solutions.

BlueArc's Si8000 SiliconServer family, based on the unique SiliconServer Architecture, enables customers to scale and benefit from the addition of high-performance features by delivering storage at the speed of silicon without impacting data throughput as in traditional CPU-bound implementations.

Silicon Update 2.0

BlueArc's newest feature release, Silicon Update 2.0, contains a suite of new features and feature enhancements and is available immediately on all Si8000 SiliconServer family models, or as an upgrade for existing Si7500 SiliconServer customers. Some of the key feature introductions in this release include Virtual Volumes, Accelerated Data Copy and Snapshots.

Virtual Volumes is a management solution that allows an administrator to apply services such as quotas to specified groups of directories called Virtual Volumes, enabling the administrator to perform critical functions on Virtual Volumes rather than an entire physical volume or file system -- saving time and simplifying management.

Accelerated Data Copy enables high-speed data copy within and between storage systems. This industry first for high-speed data movement is a result of BlueArc's SiliconServer Architecture, which moves data through hardware, unlike CPU-bound software alternatives.

BlueArc's rules-based snapshot functionality provides a flexible, easy-to-manage solution for scheduling, implementing and recovering file system copies. BlueArc snapshots offer incredible flexibility by allowing 32 snapshots per rule and an infinite number of rules. Users will be able to easily access and restore their files from snapshots, removing management overhead from the system administrator.

"The introduction of the Si8000 family of products demonstrates BlueArc's sustained leadership, underscoring the SiliconServer Architecture's ability to set the bar for performance, reliability and scalability," said Gianluca Rattazzi, chairman and CEO of BlueArc. "The extended product family and enhanced features we are introducing today represent additional value to our customers and puts a stake in the ground that our competitors cannot match. As the Gigabit Ethernet data center becomes a more pervasive reality, we are there to not only support its existence but drive its advancement."

The Si8000 SiliconServer family, with Silicon Update 2.0, is available immediately, starting under $50,000 for entry models. More information on the Si8000 SiliconServer family is available at www.bluearc.com/products.

About BlueArc

BlueArc Corporation and its SiliconServer Architecture deliver the world's only file server designed to scale beyond today's 1 Gbps networks toward tomorrow's 10 Gbps networks. BlueArc's SiliconServer Architecture moves software into programmable hardware and removes the bottlenecks that limit performance in other NAS systems on the market today. BlueArc SiliconServers deliver groundbreaking speed and scalability, simplifying the way customers design and build their storage infrastructures. The company's headquarters are in San Jose, California with U.K. operations based in Bracknell, England. More information on BlueArc is available on the Internet at www.bluearc.com.