Crossroads Partners With iSCSI Leaders to Demonstrate Interoperability of Latest iSCSI Standard; Crossroads Leads Adaptec, CommVault, HP, and Microsoft Team.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

Storage Networking World Spring 2002

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Crossroads Systems, Inc (Nasdaq:CRDS), a global provider of connectivity for storage networking solutions, today announced it has collaborated with industry leaders Adaptec, CommVault, Hewlett-Packard Company, and Microsoft to showcase interoperability in iSCSI storage routing with the latest version 0.9 of the standard. No other developers have adopted this version and it will be demonstrated at Storage Networking World, April 2-5, 2002, Palm Desert, CA.

"Crossroads is committed to providing industry leading, interoperable network storage solutions, particularly those focused on iSCSI," said Larry Sanders, president and CEO, Crossroads Systems. "Working with Adaptec, CommVault, HP, and Microsoft on our iSCSI demonstration exemplifies our expertise in developing these solutions and showcases Crossroads industry-wide interoperability."

The Crossroads demonstration focuses on how customers can protect their data using iSCSI storage networks and the benefit iSCSI brings in helping minimize interoperability issues to quickly enhance the scalability, performance and accessibility of their data. The demonstration connects the Crossroads10000 iSCSI storage router, the Adaptec ASA-7211 iSCSI HBA, an HP Surestore tape library, and a server running Microsoft NET Server with a beta iSCSI initiator from Microsoft. CommVault(R) Galaxy(TM) software is used for the data backup and restore functions.

Crossroads once again illustrates the abilities of iSCSI interoperability in a Windows environment. As Windows-based servers remain the enterprise platform of choice, Microsoft continues to look forward to the future of iSCSI and storage management. "Microsoft is excited to participate once again with Crossroads and our other industry partners in demonstrating that iSCSI support under Windows .NET Server has the potential to interoperate with products from many vendors and provide our mutual customers with a broad spectrum of data access solutions," said Jason Goodman, product manager for the Enterprise Storage Group at Microsoft Corp.

As a long time partner of Crossroads and industry storage leader, HP offers its extraordinary flexible and scalable tape libraries to the demonstration. "HP continues its commitment to deliver a comprehensive and complete iSCSI solution," said Bob Wilson, general manager, HP automated storage division. "The Crossroads 10000 storage router provides an excellent compliment to HP Surestore tape libraries. With Crossroads, we look forward to demonstrating the improved access to business critical information iSCSI provides to our customers." With the industry's first ASIC-based iSCSI adapter that enables servers and storage systems to be used in iSCSI SANs, Adaptec continues to uphold its IP Storage leadership. "Crossroads involvement in iSCSI storage networking underscores the company's commitment to deliver highly interoperable networked storage solutions," said Ram Jayam, Vice President and General Manager of Adapatec's Storage Networking Group. "As strong proponents of iSCSI interoperability, we are pleased to collaborate with Crossroads on this demonstration and maintain our leadership in connectivity for broadly deployable iSCSI solutions." "We welcome the opportunity to work with Crossroads to demonstrate how their advanced solutions can be integrated with our comprehensive backup and restore capabilities," said Larry Cormier, vice president of marketing and business development at CommVault Systems. "This demonstration brought together by Crossroads, provides an in depth look at the inherent value iSCSI offers for customers looking to leverage the full power of their data and storage management infrastructures."

The iSCSI protocol leverages the standards-based IP network as the transport network for connectivity, extending storage links greater distances over IP networks. iSCSI is under development by the IETF and expected to be finalized shortly.

For more information about the Crossroads iSCSI or server-free demonstrations please visit Crossroads booth #P8.

SNIA Interoperability Lab at SNW 

Crossroads products can also be found in several demonstrations in the SNIA Interoperability Lab including the Emerging Technologies (iSCSI), Network Operations, Departmental and CIM demonstration theme areas. For more information on these demos, please visit the SNIA Interoperability Lab at Storage Networking World.

About Crossroads Systems, Inc.

With headquarters in Austin, Texas, Crossroads Systems (Nasdaq: CRDS) is a leading global provider of connectivity and intelligent management for storage networks regardless of technology or location. Crossroads enables protocol-independent connectivity at gigabit speeds for a wide range of devices that scale from small businesses to global enterprises. Crossroads' products are in solutions from ADIC, ATL, Compaq, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Groupe Bull, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, McDATA, StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, Unisys, ACAL, Bell Micro, Cranel/Adexis, Datalink and Tech Data. Crossroads is a voting member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). For more information about Crossroads Systems, please visit www.crossroads.com or call 800/643-7148.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: the quarterly fluctuations of Crossroads' operating results and Crossroads' inability to accurately predict revenues and budget for expenses for future periods; the extent of Crossroads' future operating losses and negative cash flow; the company's ability to maintain its operating margins; the deteriorating economic environment, including in particular related expense reductions by organizations affecting their IT spending and budget; the dependence of Crossroads' business on the storage area network market which is evolving and unpredictable; the possibility that the pending shareholder class action lawsuits could result in an adverse outcome to the company; Crossroads' ability to develop new and enhanced products that achieve market acceptance; the effect of competition; the effect of undetected software or hardware errors, which may affect the company's results or reduce demand for Crossroads' products in the long term; Crossroads' inability to protect its intellectual property rights, including any adverse outcome in the company's pending patent litigation with certain of its competitors; the continuation of Crossroads' successful relationships with its limited number of OEM customers, including its ability to replace revenue from ADIC and Compaq Computer Corporation and/or to realize the benefit of the new agreement with Compaq; Crossroads' ability to retain and recruit key personnel to manage its business successfully; Crossroads' ability to successfully achieve the benefits of the acquisition of Polaris Communications and any subsequent acquisition or strategic relationship; and that Crossroads' stock price could be volatile regardless of Crossroads' actual financial performance and other factors detailed in Crossroads' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on 10-Q.