Storability Announces Breakthrough Storage Management Software.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2002

Storability Global Storage Manager Offers Industry's First Complete

Centralized Management System for Heterogeneous Storage

Storability, Inc., a leading provider of storage management technology and services, today announced general release of the Storability Global Storage Manager, an innovative software solution that greatly simplifies the management of heterogeneous storage infrastructures. The new software is the first comprehensive solution to provide control and management of multi-site, multi-vendor, multi-type storage environments. Customers benefit from dramatically higher storage utilization, lower management costs, and higher levels of operational efficiency.

Global Storage Manager is a reliable, proven product that automates routine management and operations tasks. A comprehensive management framework provides the extensibility, scalability, platform independence, and vendor neutrality missing from other approaches. Powerful management applications provide insight into, and central control over, all elements of an enterprise-wide storage environment, including SAN, NAS, direct-attached primary storage, secondary and archive backup systems, and servers. Access to real-time and historical information across all storage devices, regardless of vendor or geographic location, greatly enhances manageability -- offering instant access to operational status, performance statistics, availability, inventory, allocation, utilization, and more.

"The Storability Global Storage Manager is the first product of its kind to centralize management of every storage device across an enterprise, no matter who makes it, or how it's connected. Customers finally have a solution to the complexity of heterogeneous storage management," said Tim Leisman, Storability President and CEO. "The benefits are enormous -- Global Storage Manager can increase utilization by 30% or more, saving our enterprise customers millions of dollars a year."

For the first time, customers need not manage each vendor's storage devices independently -- an extremely costly and time-consuming task. Global Storage Manager integrates easily with existing storage, network and operation management tools, and supports the latest storage technology developments, offering customers the flexibility to choose equipment and technology based on each application's unique requirements and budget.

In mid 2001, GartnerGroup signaled the need for software to perform Storage Area Management (SAM). Distinct from earlier categories such as Back up/Restore, Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM), and Storage Resource Management (SRM), SAM refers to a new breed of solutions aimed at centralizing and simplifying management of distributed, heterogeneous storage infrastructures. The introduction of the Storability Global Storage Manager underscores this segment distinction, and establishes a benchmark for competitors attempting to follow Storability into the SAM marketplace. The Storage Area Management segment with combined annual growth rates of 50% is predicted to reach $850M in 2005.

"Storability invested the last two years in developing the technology, expertise, and vendor-neutral focus required to centrally manage heterogeneous storage devices," said Adam Couture, Senior Analyst at GartnerGroup's Dataquest IT Services. "These are the kinds of tools IT departments need to manage their storage infrastructure effectively. One of the benefits of such an approach is that users can improve utilization of their storage resources and often eliminate the need for new equipment purchases."

Storability's Global Storage Manager consists of the following components, which are designed for easy and rapid implementation:

-- Management Applications: Management and operation tools that provide
knowledge of and control over all storage infrastructure components.

-- Middleware: A common management framework providing data collection and
aggregation that eliminates vendor idiosyncrasies and integrates information
and control across multiple datacenters.

-- Smart Agents: Storability-developed management proxy for storage devices,
switch fabrics, host systems, and the backup infrastructure.

-- Documented Access Methods: Documented APIs using standard interfaces such as
CLI, XML, and JNI allow easy integration into existing customer applications.

The software architecture leverages open standards to provide flexibility and investment protection. Storability is aggressively pursuing development of industry standards from the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) and others. The software architecture is comprehensive, platform independent, language independent, extensible, and highly scalable. Security is inherent in all layers of the solution.

Storability customers also have instant access to in-depth practical experience and industry knowledge through the company's Professional Services organization. These experts have experience designing, implementing, and managing best-of-breed storage infrastructures. That expertise, combined with industry best practices and proven methodologies, creates a world-class team capable of managing any or all aspects of the implementation, from requirements analysis through deployment.

About Storability, Inc.

Storability is a leading provider of storage management technology and services. The company offers customizable and cost-effective storage solutions that simplify the management of complex, multi-site, multi-vendor storage infrastructures. Storability customers benefit from increased asset utilization, improved management efficiency, enhanced quality of service, and higher availability -- without compromising security or control. For more information, please visit www.storability.com, email [e-mail], or call 508-229-1700.