NEC COMPUTERS' EXPRESS 5800/320LA FAULT TOLERANT SERVER WINS COMDEX BEST OF SHOW AWARD.

NEC Computers Inc. was awarded the COMDEX 2001 "Best of Show" award for the server category at a reception here in Las Vegas Wednesday. NEC Computers' Express 5800/320La fault tolerant server, the first in a series of fault tolerant servers introduced by the company, won the award. COMDEX "Best of Show" is an award given at the technology industry's largest tradeshow to companies exhibiting the most innovative and influential products and technologies. Products are judged by a distinguished panel of senior editorial staff members from leading trade publications on the following criteria:

--Technical Innovation - the extent to which the product or service resolves a problem in an innovative way.

--Impact - the extent to which the product has a clear, defined benefit to an organization; and how it will impact the way an organization conducts business.

NEC Computers' Express5800/320La has proven that it is truly in a class by itself. It provides users with continuous availability, which means the server is designed to prevent interruption of service, data loss and data corruption in the event of a hardware problem or maintenance servicing. The system is also uniquely designed for easy implementation, as it requires only typical hardware or software configuration and supports standard Microsoft Windows applications. These features can help minimize IT staff training requirements and enable the use of commercially available software, which helps reduce total cost of ownership.

"We are proud to receive the prestigious 'Best of Comdex' distinction for our fault tolerant server," said Kozo Yoshimatsu, Vice President, Server Business Unit for NEC Computers. "This award underscores our commitment to provide simplified availability without the level of complexity or the high price tag of legacy or clustered systems. The combination of modular serviceability, dynamic manageability, and a WinTel platform create a new class of system and new opportunities for businesses that demand uptime for mission-critical applications."

The Express5800/320La employs 24 x7 fault tolerant technology licensed from Stratus Technologies inside a unique NEC design that allows all processing and input/output (I/O) commands to run on redundant subsystems in lockstep. The servers include multiple CPU processing modules, multiple I/O-PCI modules, power supplies and hard disk drive (HDDs) running in what is called an "Active/Active" mode. The redundant subsystems in each module process identical data at the same time. In the event of a hardware failure or hardware error, the defective module is instantly isolated to prevent losing memory state or processing instructions. The end result is a far higher level of system integrity and stability when compared to non-fault-tolerant systems.

A modular design, advanced monitoring ability and on-line testing capabilities allow NEC Computers to provide a new service paradigm with the Express5800/320La server. These features help provide ease-of-use, installation and maintenance time-savings, low repair and maintenance costs, remote monitoring and repair capabilities, and problem identification and resolution, all designed to occur without a system shutdown.

Continuously available systems rely on software to predict, manage and recover from potential software problems. To help ensure dependable operation, the NEC Express5800/320La offers a suite of software designed to provide exceptional stability and availability while transparently managing problem prediction, isolation and recovery.