COPAN Systems Appoints Mark B. Ward as President and CEO; MAID-Based Storage Innovator Names Industry Veteran to Grow Company's Leadership in Long-Term Data Storage Market.

LONGMONT, Colo. -- COPAN Systems, a leading provider of intelligent storage solutions that unlock the value of long-term data, today announced the appointment of Mark B. Ward as President and CEO. Ward will oversee all daily operations and will be responsible for driving COPAN's overall growth strategy as the company builds on the growing demand for its enhanced MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disk Solutions)-based storage solutions.

"With strong customer traction among the Fortune 1000 and an expanding portfolio of products that provide complete storage solutions across backup/restore, archiving and disaster recovery solutions, COPAN Systems is uniquely poised to strengthen its leadership in the long-term data storage market," said Basil Horangic, Chairman of the Board at COPAN Systems. "We are excited to have a storage veteran of Mark Ward's caliber and experience. Mark's extensive understanding of the storage industry and proven leadership abilities will be essential as the company moves forward with growing our business and customer base."

Ward brings over two decades of storage industry leadership experience to COPAN at both the start-up and global enterprise level. Most recently, Ward was Managing Partner at Ward Capital LLC where he devoted his time and energies to developing sales, marketing and business strategies along with investing in emerging cutting-edge storage companies and technologies. Prior to this, Ward served as Vice President and General Manager of North American Sales at StorageTek where he consistently delivered sequential revenue growth. Prior to StorageTek, Ward served as Managing Partner of Enterprise Storage Ventures LLC where he drove investment and managed a portfolio of storage start-ups. Ward was also founder and CEO of GiantLoop Network, a leading provider of rich data center networking software and services. Ward also accumulated over fourteen years of top management experience at EMC, where in his last position he served as VP of Worldwide Marketing, Software, and Professional Services.

"COPAN has clearly established itself as a leader in MAID-based technology that helps companies leverage the full business value of their long-term data. This is an exciting company with an innovative product line, strong financial backing, incredibly talented employees, and an impressive customer base," said Mark Ward. "I look forward to building on this winning scenario as we expand on the company's successes in 2006."

About COPAN Systems

COPAN Systems is a leading provider of intelligent storage solutions, based on an enhanced MAID technology, that unlock the value of long-term data. The company is led by storage industry veterans from Hitachi Data Systems, Sun/StorageTek, Dell, HP/Compaq, EMC, and others, and is privately held with investments by Austin Ventures, Globespan Capital, Pequot Ventures, and Pinnacle Ventures. COPAN Systems' storage solutions have been shipping since March 2004, with customers spanning the healthcare, financial, government, media, and service provider industries. Solution implementations include backup/restore, archive and disaster recovery. More information is available at http://www.COPANsys.com.