Candera Appoints S. ``Sundi'' Sundaresh President & CEO; Company Changes Name from Confluence Networks.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 2002

Candera Inc., a developer of next-generation network-based storage management platforms, today announced the appointment of S. "Sundi" Sundaresh as president and chief executive officer. The company also announced it has changed its name to Candera from Confluence Networks.

"Candera's unique technology, large market opportunity, strong financial position and the tremendous excitement our product is generating attracted an outstanding pool of candidates," said Dave Roberson, Candera board member and president/COO of Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT). "Sundi emerged from this stellar group as the ideal president and CEO. We were looking for a business-oriented leader who had not only a technical background but also the ability to develop and execute a winning strategy in a challenging competitive environment. Sundi's track record at successful networking and storage technology companies, combined with his proven leadership skills, convinced us we had the right person to lead Candera to its full potential."

"Having worked at a variety of large and small companies over the past two decades, I have learned to recognize certain qualities, both tangible and intangible, that distinguish successful organizations," said Sundaresh. "After meeting the Candera team and researching many other storage technology companies, it was quite apparent that Candera possessed all of those positive qualities. From the experience, talent and pedigree of the team, to the customers' enthusiastic reception of the technology and the endorsement of top-tier investors, it is clear that Candera is poised to capitalize on a tremendous opportunity. I wanted to be a part of building that success."

Proven Leadership

Sundaresh brings more than 21 years of executive management, marketing and engineering experience at both start-ups and large companies to his role at Candera. Prior to joining Candera, Sundaresh served as president and CEO at Jetstream Communications, now a part of Paradyne Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PDYN), where he led the company from pre-revenue to an annual run rate of $30 million and the number one position in the voice over broadband market. Before that, he served as corporate vice president and general manager of the I/O and emerging technologies division at Adaptec (NASDAQ:ADPT), eventually guiding the group to more than $400 million in revenues. He also served as vice president of worldwide marketing at Adaptec.

New Name Reflects Brand Promise

Candera today also announced that it has changed its name from Confluence Networks to more accurately reflect the nature of the company and the benefits that its product brings to the diverse storage network environments in today's data centers.

Derived from the Latin word "candere," which means to shine or glow, the Candera name is meant to convey the sense of visibility that the company brings to today's overly complex, overly expensive networked storage environment. By shedding new light on existing resources, Candera allows customers to optimize their data storage assets and deliver higher levels of administrative efficiency at lower costs, increasing financial returns on new and existing SAN investments. The Candera name was chosen to provide a solid foundation for building the company's brand over the coming years.

About Candera

Candera Inc., a development stage, stealth mode company founded in 2000, is building the first of a new generation of systems that will enable customers to unleash the ultimate value of networked information storage. Candera is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif. and can be found on the web at www.candera.com.