Vixel enhances support for its switch products.

Vixel Corporation (Nasdaq:VIXL), a provider of storage networking products and technologies, recently announced an agreement with Anacomp, Inc. (OTCBB:ANCPA), that will expand technical support for both resellers and end users of Vixel switch products. The partnership provides access to 24-by-7 technical support, on-site service and specifies minimum service response times. Anacomp is a leading provider of information technology outsourcing services and document imaging solutions with an international service delivery infrastructure and in-depth experience with SAN technology.

"This agreement is part of Vixel's strategic investment to further enhance service offerings for organizations that use our SAN switch products," said Kelsey Britz, vice president, operations, Vixel Corporation. "Through this partnership we are delivering on our commitment to provide the highest possible level of support and service to our valued customers. Our capabilities have now been expanded to include on-site service capabilities, 24-by-7 access to service and structured response time minimums. We've worked closely with Anacomp to establish a transparent support infrastructure, operationally merging services organizations in order to provide our customers with streamlined technical support and a broader array of support options."

"A successful storage solution requires integrating quality storage products with comprehensive, effective customer support," said Hans Hedfeld, senior vice president of multi-vendor services business development for Anacomp. Vixel understands the importance of this and has worked with us to develop such a program for its customers."

With this agreement in place, Vixel and Anacomp will now collectively support Vixel resellers and end users in both the Americas and Europe. The new service partnership leverages both the Anacomp global services infrastructure and the experience of Vixel's Customer Support Division.

Vixel also recently announced that Computer Associates has certified Vixel's new InSpeed based Entry Level SAN Switches for use with its BrightStor ARCserve 2000 software. With this certification, BrightStor ARCserve 2000, which delivers complete data protection to organizations of all sizes, is now compatible with Vixel's InSpeed based Model 335 Entry Level SAN Switches.

Vixel's InSpeed based Entry Level SAN switches break significant cost and complexity barriers, allowing entry level users in businesses of all sizes to migrate from direct attached storage systems to full Fibre Channel-based storage networks. The InSpeed switches are available at one third to one half of the cost of competing vendors' Entry Level SAN switch offerings. While other vendors simply offer re-purposed switches at a reduced prices, Vixel is the only company that delivers entry level SAN switches specifically designed to eliminate the interoperability issues and complexities associated with traditional SAN switching.

"Our InSpeed based Model 335 Entry Level SAN switch is now certified with one of the most widely-used data protection software packages for Windows 2000," said Claude Lorenson, director of product marketing for Vixel Corporation. "This is a significant milestone for Vixel because this certification demonstrates a need for Vixel's InSpeed based Entry Level Switches, the first front-end switches that do not require fabric support. Vixel has leveraged its InSpeed technology to deliver an Entry Level Switch product that offers the same performance as fabric switches, but without the complexity associated with managing fabric services and at a significant reduction in price."