Emulex Unveils iSCSI Host Bus Adapter; Emulex GN9000/SI Provides High Performance Storage Connectivity for Industry-Standard IP Networks.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 2001

Emulex Corp. (Nasdaq:EMLX), the world's leading supplier of storage networking host bus adapters (HBAs), announced today the Emulex GN9000/SI iSCSI host bus adapter, its first product to support the iSCSI standard.

The GN9000/SI, part of Emulex's Giganet(R) family of Internet protocol (IP)-based storage networking HBAs, provides the connectivity solution that allows servers to communicate directly with storage devices over IP networks. With the addition of the GN9000/SI HBA, Emulex is now well positioned to enable the creation of the industry's first end-to-end storage networking infrastructures built upon both Fibre Channel and IP technologies.

The emerging iSCSI standard enables SCSI-based block level storage to be remotely accessed over IP networks. This new technology has received broad industry support, which was reinforced last month by the Storage Networking Industry Association's creation of its IP Storage Forum. Several leading companies, including Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM, Brocade Communications and others, have joined the SNIA IP Storage Forum, and are committed to bringing interoperable network storage solutions to a broader market.

"The Emulex iSCSI strategy reinforces Cisco's vision for storage infrastructures within IP-based environments," said Mark Cree, general manager of the Cisco Storage Router Business Unit. "Emulex's strategic direction in developing both Fibre Channel and iSCSI host bus adapters is also in line with our goal of promoting a networked storage infrastructure that is based on an open architecture and industry standards."

The GN9000/SI provides the high performance iSCSI connectivity over gigabit Ethernet for PCI-based systems, and leverages Emulex's widely-adopted service level interface (SLI), which is used by many of the industry's leading server and storage providers to build high performance Fibre Channel storage area networks (SANs). The Emulex GN9000/SI HBA will be commercially available by the end of 2001.

As part of the Emulex iSCSI product launch, an iSCSI developer's kit (IDK) will be made available in mid-2001. The IDK includes prototype iSCSI hardware and sample iSCSI software drivers that illustrate the highly-leveraged Emulex SLI. To ensure the easy adoption of its new iSCSI products, Emulex is also working with the industry's leading system, storage, and network providers on iSCSI interoperability testing to ensure end-to-end support of IP infrastructures.

"The Giganet family of iSCSI HBAs is the first of many new IP storage networking products anticipated from Emulex's acquisition of Giganet Inc.," said Paul Folino, president and chief executive officer of Emulex Corp. "By offering our customers high performance iSCSI HBAs, Emulex is well positioned to meet our customers' requirements for reliable, high performance data access over both Fibre Channel and IP storage networking environments."

Emulex's new iSCSI products will implement the iSCSI and TCP/IP protocols in both hardware and firmware on a gigabit Ethernet HBA to ensure high performance, flexibility and low CPU utilization. The Emulex iSCSI products will support its SLI application programming interface (API), which is supported by its industry-leading LightPulse(R) Fibre Channel products. The SLI is used in products today by companies such as: Compaq, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, NEC, Siemens, and Unisys. Emulex iSCSI and Fibre Channel HBAs, supporting a common SLI, enable the integration of IP and Fibre Channel storage networking and leverage customer investments in existing network and storage environments.

"Developing products that adhere to the iSCSI standard, like the Emulex iSCSI host bus adapters, are important building blocks to the future of this new technology," said Paul Mattson, Business Line Manager for IP Storage, IBM Corp., which recently announced the industry's first product line of iSCSI storage servers. "Access to block-level data over a common IP network is a growing requirement, and a high performance iSCSI HBA which operates over existing IP networking infrastructures will enable customers to maximize their investments in existing storage networking environments."

Universal Storage Access - Building a Bridge Between IP and Fibre Channel Storage Networks

The majority of the storage network environments installed today support block level data access between hosts and storage systems. The iSCSI specification, which has recently been accepted for review by the IETF standards committee, will enable Ethernet/IP-based networks to access and transport block level data. Thus, end-to-end IP storage networking solutions, which are emerging rapidly from industry leaders such as Cisco, IBM and Brocade, will use the iSCSI protocol to enable remote data access from hosts and storage systems regardless of location - Ethernet networks or Fibre Channel SANs. The new "universal storage access" environments will require host and storage system connections to both IP networks and Fibre Channel SANs, and Emulex is uniquely positioned as a single connectivity source. Its high performance IP and Fibre Channel host bus adapters enable storage access from anywhere in the network.

"As the leader in SAN infrastructure, Brocade is pleased to work closely with Emulex to ensure close interoperability of our solutions," said Jack Cuthbert, Brocade vice president of Sales, Marketing and Support Services. "We support Emulex's initiatives in delivering storage connectivity solutions which will enable IP access to storage area networks, and further expand the market and reach for SAN solutions."

Storage solution providers (SSPs) and/or customers implementing new storage virtualization technologies that enable data on servers and SANs to be shared as a single virtual storage pool, will also gain from Emulex's approach to cost-effective, universal storage access. Emulex HBAs will enable global data access, while maintaining customers' investments in existing system, storage and networking infrastructures.

"Gartner Dataquest believes that deployment of iSCSI is a step towards convergence of Fibre Channel SAN technology and IP storage networking solutions," said James Opfer, Gartner Dataquest analyst. "Product strategies that accommodate this expected convergence are a likely requirement for continued success in the storage network infrastructure market."

The Emulex Family of Giganet IP Networking Host Bus Adapters

The Emulex family of Giganet IP Networking host bus adapters provide unsurpassed high performance data access over industry-standard IP networks. The Giganet GN9000/VI VI/IP HBA, announced in July 2000, enables network attached storage (NAS) appliances and hosts to exchange file system data over IP networks, while gaining the high throughput, low latency and reduced CPU overhead benefits of the virtual interface (VI) architecture. Today's announcement of the Giganet family of iSCSI HBAs further extends the Emulex product offering to include block level data access over IP networks, including data residing on Fibre Channel SANs. The Emulex Giganet family of IP networking products also includes the cLAN1000 host bus adapter and the cLAN 5000/5300 cluster switches, which are the preferred connectivity solution for VI-based system area networks.

The Emulex market-leading LightPulse Fibre Channel HBAs offer full fabric support, high data integrity, full-duplex operation, data buffering for up to 100km of cabling, and support for all Fibre Channel topologies. The Emulex LightPulse family of Fibre Channel products includes the 2 Gb/s LP9002 host bus adapters, SBus-based LP8000S host adapter, LP8000 host adapter and LP850 host bus adapters, the high-performance PCI-based LP7000E and the industry's first digital re-timing hub, the LH5000 series. For more information on the Emulex product families, visit www.emulex.com.

About Emulex

Emulex Corp. is a leading supplier and developer storage and server networking host bus adapters based on both Fibre Channel and IP networking technologies. Storage networks provide data centers with high-speed, scalable, and highly available storage access. Server networks enable the creation of high-performance server clusters for database and transaction processing. The Emulex LightPulse and Giganet product families are based on internally developed ASIC, firmware and software technologies, 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 Compaq, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu-Siemens, Groupe Bull, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance and Unisys. In addition, Emulex includes industry leaders Brocade, INRANGE, Intel, Legato, McDATA, Microsoft, and Veritas among its strategic partners.

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, CTC, Info-X, Tech Data and TidalWire. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa. News releases and other information about Emulex Corp. are available at 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 following: Emulex's and Giganet's markets are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and enhancements, and the combined companies may not be able to respond to such changes on a timely basis; the fibre channel and IP market are at early stages of development; changes in economic conditions or changes in end-user demand for technology solutions, including the possibility of slower than expected growth in demand for Fibre Channel solutions; possible delays in OEM launches of products enabled by the company's solutions or deferrals in orders for the company's solutions by these OEMs; Giganet's VI/IP products remain in the development stage and are subject to significant technical, competitive and market acceptance risks; the ability of Emulex to effectively integrate Giganet's operations into its own; the highly competitive nature of the markets for Emulex's and Giganet's products as well as pricing pressures that may result from such competitive conditions; the combined companies' ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the companies' reliance on third-party suppliers for components used in the companies' products and on manufacturing subcontractors that assemble and distribute the company's products; the companies' reliance on certain OEMs, distributors and key customers; potential losses on strategic business investments; and potential fluctuations in Emulex's future effective tax rate. 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.