Sanborn Chooses Z-force File Switch to Build an Incrementally Scalable NAS Infrastructure; Selection Proves Appeal of Standards-Based Scalable, Low-Cost NAS.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2003

Z-force(TM), Inc., the inventor of the file switch, today announced that Sanborn, a photogrammetric mapping and geographic information system (GIS) industry leader, has chosen the Z-force ZX-1000 File Switch to increase the capacity of its storage network and implement a scalable, low-cost NAS infrastructure that can grow incrementally to meet the needs of its rapidly growing business(1). Sanborn is one of several customers who have opted to move to a Z-force-based NAS infrastructure and enjoy very high capacity and performance in an environment that scales incrementally, is easy to manage, and has very low total cost of ownership (TCO).

"By implementing the Z-force File Switch, we've been able to significantly improve productivity among our users," said Stephen Rochford, Director of Information Technology, Sanborn. "As a result, we can more rapidly grow our business to address the overwhelming demand for our services. In the past, our substantial investments in proprietary big box NAS have helped consolidate storage, increase our capacity and offer very high performance. The transition from proprietary NAS to the Z-force File Switch has now allowed us to easily and incrementally grow our capacity at a significantly reduced cost, while still maintaining the performance our users have come to expect."

Sanborn provides mapping and GIS services to local, state and federal government agencies, and the private sector. Due to the advent of digital photography and the incredible growth in its market, Sanborn has rapidly evolved its use of computers and servers to accomplish its business goals, and has transitioned from workstation and tape-based disparate storage to a consolidated network of file-based storage.

One project in process illustrates the company's reliance on fast, high-capacity networked storage. The company is completing a program for the state of Wyoming to create digital orthophoto imagery of the entire state. Sanborn captures high resolution images of terrain through aerial photography. The images are then scanned and stored on a centralized file-based storage network, and served to users as needed who annotate the digital imagery. The project utilizes 30 Terabytes (TB) of data that are shared by over 100 users.

Sanborn's storage network employs both proprietary storage systems and low-cost Windows servers to serve the massive amounts of data to its users. When faced with the need to increase its storage environment, Sanborn chose to implement the Z-force ZX-1000 File Switch rather than continue to add expensive proprietary big box point solutions. Sanborn chose the Z-force File Switch to aggregate the capacity and performance of six Dell PowerVault(TM) network attached storage (NAS) systems into a single, easy to manage and scalable NAS Array. The addition of the file switch has enabled Sanborn to expand its storage capacity by 3 TB with the same high performance access its users have come to expect. In addition, the file switch will enable Sanborn to scale its environment seamlessly in the future simply by adding NAS devices for capacity, or file switches to increase bandwidth.

"The Z-force solution has exceeded our expectations," said Rochford. "Installation was easy, and we've successfully had the file switch in production for the past several months. As we need to add additional storage to our network, I would definitely prefer to grow our storage capacity by adding storage behind the Z-force switch or even consolidating all of our storage within the new switched infrastructure."

About the Z-force File Switch

Z-force has pioneered the move to scalable NAS with the invention of the file switch, a concept Z-force first made public in early 2002 to widespread industry acclaim. Similar to a RAID controller in a RAID Array, Z-force's File Switch sits at the heart of an architecture called a NAS Array -- enabling an unlimited number of industry-standard, off-the-shelf NAS devices to be aggregated into a single high-performance storage network. The file switch front-ends a server set of industry-standard NAS devices based on the Microsoft Windows Server Appliance Kit (SAK), Linux, Free BSD or even proprietary operating systems. The architecture requires no special software to be added to either the clients or the NAS devices, and connects to a standard Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN). Because the architecture utilizes industry-standard components, it enables a brand new cost model for NAS -- both in terms of capital acquisition costs and more importantly because of the low maintenance costs associated with the architecture.

ABOUT Z-FORCE

Z-force, Inc.'s new ZX-1000 File Switch is revolutionizing network attached storage (NAS) by delivering incrementally scalable performance, capacity and manageability at dramatically reduced price points. Z-force, a privately held company, was founded in 1999 and has offices in Laguna Hills, Calif. and Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit: www.z-force.com.

Editor's note:

Z-force is a trademark of Z-force, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.

(1) See separate press release, "Z-Force Announces the ZX-1000 File Switch, Bringing Incremental Scalability and Unified Manageability to NAS For the First Time" issued July 23, 2003.