GiantLoop Network Announces Optical Storage Networking.

Business/Technology Editors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2000

Focused Storage Initiative is Part of Enterprise Optical

Networking Strategy

OSN Will Accelerate the Implementation of Remote

Storage Applications and Impact Storage Industry and Technologies

GiantLoop Network, Inc., the leader in Enterprise Optical Networking services, today announced Optical Storage Networking (OSN), the first and only portfolio of professional services and managed optical networking services specifically designed for the storage applications of Global 250 companies. GiantLoop's OSN enables large enterprises to aggregate various networking protocols like ESCON/FICON, Fibre Channel, Ethernet, or IP, on a single fiber-optic network. OSN is the storage-centric side of GiantLoop's Enterprise Optical Networking. Enterprise Optical Networking aggregates data and storage networking protocols on optical networks that span campus, metropolitan, and inter-city geographies.

According to Forrester Research, the Global 250 companies will add an average of 22 terabytes of new storage this year and 150 terabytes of new storage in 2003. This growth is driven by new applications, e-business efforts, and large databases for business intelligence. To protect business-critical information, many firms extend storage channels and build remote data centers to mirror storage at their primary sites, but current solutions are hampered by distance limitations, technology complexities, high costs, and inadequate service options. Optical networking promises to ease these restrictions, but optical solutions require companies to undertake a series of complex tasks like procuring dark fiber, purchasing DWDM-based optical switches, integrating storage and optical networks, and managing nascent technologies on an ongoing basis. Most firms don't have the skills, processes, or time to embark on this large, difficult project.

GiantLoop's Optical Storage Networking replaces these complex technology selection, implementation, training, and management tasks with a predictable, reliable, 7-by-24 service. Through its professional services and managed optical networking services, GiantLoop is a one-stop shop for assessing, planning, designing, implementing, and managing optical storage networks that support all current and future storage protocols.

"Large companies are caught in a Catch 22," said Mark B. Ward, president and chief operating officer of GiantLoop Network, Inc. "They need optical networks to mirror data and support the explosion of online storage, but don't have the skills, time, or budgets to implement these technologies in rapid fashion. GiantLoop's OSN is the right solution at the right time. OSN is a comprehensive storage, optical networking, data center, and operations solution that combines both professional services and managed optical services. Our skills allow us to proceed from assessment through implementation quite quickly. This speed of deployment allows our customers greater business flexibility and greater protection."

The OSN initiative comprises:

-- AGILITY Professional Services for OSN-specific assessment, design, and
planning around ESCON/FICON and Fibre Channel storage networks and IP and
Ethernet-based Network Attached Storage (NAS).

-- GiantLoop's extensive interoperability testing of storage hardware,
networks, and applications over DWDM-based optical networks.

-- GiantLoop's comprehensive four-step optical deployment service.

-- PowerCONNECT managed optical network services that deliver private,
point-to-point and point-to-multipoint optical connectivity for campus,
metropolitan, or inter-city networks.

-- GiantLoop's state-of-the-art, fully redundant Network Control Center (NCC)
for proactive network management and operations.

-- A Service Level Agreement (SLA) that guarantees up to 99.99% availability
and two-hour response time.

-- A "future-proof" architecture to accommodate long-term scalability needs and
impending storage technology initiatives like Storage over IP (SOIP) and
InfiniBand(sm).

-- Complimentary Enterprise Optical Networking professional services and
managed optical networking services for data networking protocols like
Ethernet, IP, and ATM.

GiantLoop's OSN has already received extremely positive feedback from industry leaders: "The coming together of storage and optical technologies will be a further catalyst to the advance of the high-performance Internet," said Steve Pusey, President, Emerging Sales, Nortel Networks. "GiantLoop is poised to lead the advance in creating powerfully integrated optical and storage solutions. We look forward to working closely with GiantLoop to bring the power of optical storage networking into cities and businesses of all kinds."

"Optical networking adds capability but also complexity to channel networking," said Mark Knittel, vice president of product architecture strategy and business development at Computer Network Technology Corporation. "Customers relish the benefits but are extremely leery of additional technical hurdles. By working with CNT and GiantLoop, customers can offload the complexities and get all of the business advantages."

"Today's leading companies have embraced Storage Area Networks (SANs) as a critical part of their enterprise computing environments," stated Jack Cuthbert, vice president of Worldwide Sales, Marketing, and Support Services at Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., the leading provider of SAN infrastructure. "As storage requirements continue to grow exponentially, extending SANs over optical networks increases the flexibility and capabilities of the storage infrastructure. Enterprise customers can now extend the information sharing, management, and protection capabilities of SANs beyond the data center. Through its knowledge of storage and optical networking technology, GiantLoop Network is positioned to deliver an Optical Storage Networking infrastructure that will enable Global 250 companies to reap these benefits."

"The marriage between optical networking and storage networking has long been attractive, but cross- technology skills and knowledge are rare at best," proclaimed Steve Duplessie, Senior Analyst at the Enterprise Storage Group. "GiantLoop's prowess in both areas is the right blend to ignite this market and place the company in a leadership role."

GiantLoop believes that OSN will affect both the way customers build storage networks in the near term and ultimately storage networking technology itself. In the next twelve months, large companies will leverage extended distances available with OSN to implement remote storage applications like remote mirroring, remote backup, and geographically dispersed server clustering. Once GiantLoop OSNs are in place at Global 250 companies, Storage Service Providers (SSPs) will connect their storage facilities with GiantLoop's optical networks, resulting in a storage outsourcing explosion. Finally, as customer- and SSP-based storage resources throughout the world are connected via GiantLoop OSNs, new software technology will emerge to "virtualize" storage into a single, universally accessible and manageable pool.

Mark Ward commented: "Our vision is that the GiantLoop network will act as a 'storage highway' between large companies and their global storage assets - wherever they reside. This means that storage services provisioning and management will be one mouse click away. Large companies will benefit through instant access to any information, anywhere, any time. This will have a profound impact on the entire storage industry."

About GiantLoop Network

GiantLoop Network is the first and only provider of Enterprise Optical Networking services for Global 250 enterprises. GiantLoop builds and manages fiber optic networks that aggregate data and storage networking protocols that span campus, metropolitan, and inter-city networks and eliminate all network and storage bandwidth bottlenecks. GiantLoop's AGILITY Professional Services provide a full portfolio of planning, design, and implementation services that match business needs with the right optical network infrastructure. The company's managed Enterprise Optical Networking services deliver seamless, scaleable, multi-protocol networking solutions. GiantLoop is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., with offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco. For more information about GiantLoop, including white papers about Optical Storage Networking and Enterprise Optical Networking, visit www.giantloop.com.