QLogic Announces 10Gb/4Gb High Speed Fibre Channel Initiative.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ALISO VIEJO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 2003

Company and Partners Responding to the Need for 10Gb "Performance"

and 4Gb for "Compatibility with 1Gb and 2Gb Storage Networks"

QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq:QLGC), the company that powers storage area networks (SANs), today announced its intention to introduce Fibre Channel chips, host bus adapters (HBAs) and fabric switches supporting both ten gigabit per second (10Gb) and four gigabit per second (4Gb) speeds. For applications that stream large amounts of data across a fabric such as inter switch links, voice and video, the company's 10Gb products will deliver five times the bandwidth of current 2Gb products. For corporations with growing investments in 1Gb or 2Gb storage networks, QLogic 4Gb products will double current Fibre Channel performance at about the same price as 2Gb Fibre Channel, while maintaining backwards compatibility with 1Gb and 2Gb servers, networks and storage. QLogic will begin rolling out High Speed Fibre Channel products by the end of 2003.

Customer Requirements for 10/4 High Speed Fibre Channel

IT professionals realize that as each day goes by, the users they're tasked to support are driving more transactions, digital photographs, voice files and video files across their networks. It's easy for SAN architects to understand the need for storage networks with 10Gb of bandwidth and beyond.

SAN architects want a cost-effective, backwards-compatible migration path while 10Gb Fibre Channel is gradually adopted. They're asking for 4Gb storage systems, fabric switches and HBAs that cost about the same as similar 2Gb products and that are 100% compatible with installed 1Gb and 2Gb products.

"Every time I add a switch to my SAN I waste ports for trunking and my performance is still degraded." said Bob Stavrou, director of IS for US Labs. "I look forward to having 10Gb pipes between my switches to free ports and eliminate trunking software fees."

"I expect to consolidate my tape drives into an automated tape library within the next 18 months," said Ed Roberts, President of the Orange County Windows NT User Group. "I want 4Gb connections from my library to my largest servers to reduce backup times, as long as it costs about the same as 2Gb and plugs-and-plays with my existing SAN."

The Fibre Channel Industry is Responding

Major manufacturers of Fibre Channel components and systems have been developing products based on both 10Gb and 4Gb Fibre Channel standards for quite some time. Storage system, switch and HBA manufacturers are focused on developing systems with 10Gb Fibre Channel interfaces while disk drive and tape drive manufacturers are developing next generation drives with 4Gb Fibre Channel interfaces.

Responding to feedback from their customers, companies such as QLogic are extending the availability of cost-effective 4Gb Fibre Channel products from peripherals, to fabric switches and HBAs.

10/4 High Speed Fibre Channel Products from QLogic

QLogic intends to begin introducing Fibre Channel chips, HBAs, fabric switches and management software supporting both 10Gb and 4Gb speeds including:

-- TEC(TM)/FTEC(TM) -- single chip hard disk drive controllers

-- FAS(TM)/FFAS(TM) -- single chip tape controllers

-- ISP(TM) -- single chip host bus adapters

-- GEM(TM) -- single chip management controllers

-- SANblade(TM) -- host bus adapters

-- SANbox(R) -- fabric switches

-- SANsurfer(TM) Management Suite -- switch and HBA management

software

Powered by QLogic

QLogic technology powers more than seven million storage solutions from leading companies like Cisco, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Network Appliance, Quantum, Sony, StorageTek and Sun. QLogic's broad line of controller chips, host bus adapters, network switches and management software move data across storage area networks (SANs) from storage devices through the network fabric to servers. The company constantly innovates new ways to network storage through emerging technologies like Virtual Interface (VI), Fibre Down(TM) and iSCSI. A member of the S&P 500 Index, QLogic was recently named to Forbes' Best 200 Small Companies for the fourth consecutive year and was named to Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies list for the third consecutive year. For more information visit www.qlogic.com.

Note: All QLogic-issued press releases appear on the company's web site (www.qlogic.com). Any announcement that does not appear on the QLogic web site has not been issued by QLogic.

Disclaimer -- Forward Looking Statements

With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements as defined within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements. QLogic wishes to advise readers that these potential risks and uncertainties relate to, but are not limited to, in no particular order: the introduction of new and changing technologies in our industry and customer acceptance of those technologies; a change in semiconductor foundry capacity or conditions; fluctuations in the growth of I/O markets; fluctuations or cancellations in orders from OEM customers; QLogic's ability to compete effectively with other companies; cancellation of OEM products associated with design wins; and fluctuations in our operating results and our stock price.

More detailed information on these and additional factors which could affect QLogic's operating and financial results are described in QLogic's Forms 10-Q, 10-K and other reports, filed or to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. QLogic urges all interested parties to read these reports to gain a better understanding of the many business and other risks that QLogic faces. Additionally, QLogic undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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