SHORT TAKES

EMC ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF CROSSTOR SOFTWARE

Hopkinton, MASS. — EMC Corporation, a world leader in information storage, announced that it has acquired privately held CrosStor Software, Inc. in a pooling-of-interests transaction. EMC issued approximately $300 million in stock at the closing of this transaction in exchange for all of CrosStor’s outstanding capital stock. CrosStor is a leader in high-performance software for networked storage systems. The acquisition will enhance EMC’s portfolio of networked storage technology and expertise. Joe Tucci, EMC’s President and Chief Operating Officer, said, “The networking of storage is one of today’s most important IT trends, one that underlines both the increasingly strategic role of intelligent storage and the peripheralization of traditional general-purpose servers. EMC has led this trend from its outset, and more than 25% of the storage we sell is now connected directly to a network. CrosStor brings EMC some of the world’s most advanced software technology for networked storage as well as an impressive and deep team of experienced developers with rich heritage in open systems. We look forward to welcoming CrosStor to the EMC family.”

EMC Corporation is a world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing the information infrastructure for a connected world. Information about EMC’s products and services can be found at http://www.EMC.com

STOREAGE AND SANONE ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP

Scottsdale, ARIZ. — StoreAge Networking Technologies, a leader in the key field of Storage Area Network (SAN) Virtualization, announced a comprehensive development and distribution partnership with SanOne a leading Storage Area Network (SAN) provider, an Alanco Technologies, Inc. Company. “We are extremely excited about this extension of our relationship. We have been involved in extensive interoperability testing among multiple vendors as recently demonstrated at the SanOne FCTC show. We selected StoreAge as our core technology because of their superior `out of band’ architecture and multi-platform adaptability,” said Mike Flannery, general manager of SanOne. “We believe virtualization is the empowering element necessary to truly deliver the promise of SAN technology. End Users will only select technologies that clearly represent business solutions. Virtualization offers powerful answers to storage migration, growth and control issues.”

“StoreAge has developed a substantial lead in virtualization, with a unique, enterprise-strength asymmetrical virtualization offer,” said Eli Shapira, President of StoreAge Networking Technologies. “We have been extremely impressed with the position of leadership SanOne has developed in multi-vendor SAN integration solutions, and we look forward to a close partnership with them in evolving this technology and taking it to the enterprise storage marketplace.” StoreAge’s Storage Virtualization Manager (SVM) provides virtual volume management in a heterogeneous environment with servers and storage from multiple vendors. This innovative SAN management appliance provides a common GUI through which storage is virtualized and selectively presented to users in a flexible way with a high degree of granularity. SVM features physical device monitoring, volume definitions and virtual storage allocations for heterogeneous servers and storage connected to the Fibre Channel loop or fabric. Unlike competing solutions, SVM’s out-of-band architecture does not involve any performance penalty on data traffic on the SAN. A dedicated SanOne development team is focused on virtualization as the key SAN delivery agent for today’s Storage Applications. Virtualization is a key enabler for functions such as serverless LAN-free backup, Shared File Systems, Multinode Clusters and other services that require a uniform overall view of and multiple access to all storage resources of the enterprise. It will also serve as the foundation for all interoperability; platform, storage, channel and network data management.

SIMULATIONS PLUS WORKS WITH AFFYMAX INSTITUTE

Lancaster, CALIF. — Simulations Plus, Inc.( http://www.simulations-plus.com ), a leading provider of ADME neural net and absorption simulation software for pharmaceutical discovery and development, announced that it has entered into a collaboration with the Affymax Research Institute to develop predictive software that will generate estimates for the permeability of new chemical entities (NCEs) from their molecular structure. Under the collaboration, Affymax is providing experimental permeability data for a series of chemicals, and Simulations Plus is using its QMPRPlus platform and its expertise in neural network and other mathematical modeling techniques to build a predictive capability from the data. The goal is to predict the in vitro permeability of new chemicals from their molecular structure alone, thereby reducing the need for expensive and time-consuming laboratory experiments. Affymax recently became a licensee of Simulations Plus’ QMPRPlus powerful software for prediction of ADME properties from structure.

Affymax is a wholly owned subsidiary of Glaxo Wellcome PLC. Affymax’s mission is to develop new technologies to improve the efficiency and productivity of drug discovery. It is a leader in the field of combinatorial chemistry with a powerful portfolio of technologies that enables the synthesis and screening of chemical diversity. Affymax is a two-time winner of the prestigious Newcomb-Cleveland Award given by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the publisher of Science. The collaboration with Simulations Plus, Inc. will be valuable for the design of chemical libraries with improved drug-like properties. “This collaboration is tremendously meaningful to Simulations Plus, as Affymax Research Institute is dedicated to finding the very best processes by which to streamline drug discovery. … We’re very pleased to be considered a part of its solution”, said Walt Woltosz, chairman and chief executive officer. “We understand that we were in competition with a number of other organizations for this work, and that Affymax selected Simulations Plus after a lengthy evaluation.” Ron Creeley, vice president for Marketing and Sales, added, “Dr. Michael Bolger, our director of Life Sciences, has been communicating with Affymax for several months to demonstrate our capabilities with QMPRPlus and to provide their scientists with an understanding of our capabilities in the modeling area. Their recent license for QMPRPlus and now this funded collaboration are the fruits of his labor.”

TURBOLINUX AND VERITAS SOFTWARE PARTNER

Mountain View, CALIF. — VERITAS Software Corporation, The Data Availability Company, and TurboLinux, Inc., the high-performance Linux company, announced that VERITAS NetBackup, an enterprise-class heterogeneous network backup solution will be available on TurboLinux Workstation 6.1 this quarter. “TurboLinux customers are accustomed to relying on TurboLinux for secure, scalable solutions for the enterprise,” said Mike Duffy, vice president, global enterprise sales and services, TurboLinux. “By entering into this new agreement with VERITAS Software, TurboLinux customers will be able to streamline their networks for high data availability, high-speed backups and decreased unplanned downtime.”

“The growth of Linux in the enterprise means that customers have another choice for their storage and networking needs,” said Steve Colman, vice president strategic alliances and worldwide OEM operations, VERITAS Software. “The agreement between VERITAS Software and TurboLinux simplifies the decision for the enterprise Linux customer managing a heterogeneous network. VERITAS is pleased to join in this agreement with TurboLinux to meet customers’ data availability needs.” Under the agreement, the VERITAS NetBackup client will ship with TurboLinux Workstation 6.1 beginning in Q4 2000. VERITAS Software will deliver the VERITAS NetBackup client for Linux, based on its popular VERITAS NetBackup software, to offer continuous availability of data with TurboLinux Workstation 6.1, which will ship with the VERITAS NetBackup client for Linux. The software solution also simplifies the addition of networked machines running TurboLinux Workstation 6.1 to an existing VERITAS NetBackup network, giving TurboLinux customers a high-performance solution that backs up over the wire to VERITAS NetBackup media servers. TurboLinux is a market leader in Linux software clustering solutions and Linux internationalization, with investment backing from more than 20 global computer companies, including Compaq, Dell, Intel, NEC, Novell, NTT and Oracle. Headquartered near San Francisco with offices around the world, TurboLinux solutions are supported globally by Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. The company’s home page is located on the Internet at http://www.turbolinux.com . VERITAS Software Corporation provides essential data availability software solutions that enable customers to protect and access their business-critical data for Business Without Interruption. WWW site: http://www.veritas.com/ .

JNI SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH COMPAQ

San Diego, CALIF. — JNI Corporation, the fastest growing Fibre Channel host bus adapter company in 1999, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Compaq Computer Corporation covering a variety of joint product development for Compaq’s VersaStor Technology initiative. JNI plans to develop products that support VersaStor Technology, including versions of the JNI FibreStar Fibre Channel host bus adapters, DriverSuite software and EZ Fibre configuration and management utility software. VersaStor erases the boundaries that exist today between disparate storage systems, allowing them to be combined into a SAN-attached storage pool that uses storage more efficiently and increases data availability. It also simplifies storage management tasks while providing customer investment protection for today’s Fibre Channel storage systems.

JNI products act as a “window on the SAN,” enabling the VersaStor Technology to manage data seamlessly in a storage virtualization environment. JNI products bind the physical locations of the data with the virtual names, locations and identities associated with that data. The role of products like Compaq’s VersaStor Technology are important for the future of storage networks. The Gartner Group, in Stamford, Conn., estimates that storage virtualization will reduce total cost of ownership by 25% by 2003. “Compaq is making VersaStor Technology available to help the storage industry deliver the benefits of this revolutionary and innovative technology as soon as possible,” said Mark Lewis, vice president, Enterprise Software Storage, Compaq Computer Corporation. “The users of JNI products will be among the first to realize the benefits of this new benchmark for storage virtualization.” “VersaStor Technology is an important step in the rapid evolution of storage networks,” said Scott Ruple, senior vice president of business development and marketing for JNI. “It will enable broad management of data across heterogeneous environments, a movement we already endorse with our FibreStar HBAs and EZ Fibre management software that supports eight major operating systems.”

CROSSROADS AND BMC SOFTWARE TEAM UP

Orlando, FLA. — Crossroads Systems Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of storage routers for Storage Area Networks (SANs), announced the future implementation of BMC Software’s PATROL for Crossroads, a Knowledge Module (KM) for the Crossroads 4×50 family of storage routers. The two companies have agreed to partner to develop application suites that manage SAN components as a part of the entire enterprise. The KM solution will be the initial product developed from the alliance and will present customers with an Application-Centric Storage Management solution. Crossroads and BMC Software Inc., a leading provider of e-business systems management, will provide products that simplify storage administration and give network administrators the ability to screen and troubleshoot specific events as they arise.

Leveraging PATROL, the leading enterprise-wide systems management solution, the 4×50 routers interfacing with the KM will permit IT managers to monitor the status of all components in the network, including hardware and software, and allow for proactive event management. “The reduction of storage management complexity is at the forefront of issues facing IT administrators today,” said Larry Sanders, president and COO, Crossroads Systems. “Crossroads’ collaboration with BMC illustrates the dedication that brings storage solutions that alleviate costly downtime to customers.” “As an interoperability leader, Crossroads has years of success performing in heterogeneous environments,” says Chris Gahagan, vice president and general manager, Recovery and Storage Business Unit, BMC Software. “With the development of an application-focused view to manage the complete storage environment, BMC and Crossroads allow IT personnel to predict, prevent and troubleshoot events across the entire network.” Explosive data growth has created increased demands on IT administrators and generated the need for comprehensive technology management. Deploying the KM with the Crossroads storage routers not only allows for correction of device-specific events, but also prevents errors by performing predictive modeling.

LSI LOGIC STORAGE SYSTEMS TO ACQUIRE SYNTAX

Milpitas, CALIF. — LSI Logic Storage Systems, Inc., a leading supplier of scalable storage solutions for the enterprise and a wholly-owned subsidiary of LSI Logic Corporation, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Syntax, Inc., a privately held software company based in Seattle, Washington. Valued at approximately $58 million, this agreement fuses the power of scalable storage hardware and the flexibility of cross-platform computing software to offer a complete solution for centralized storage management. The stock purchase acquisition of Syntax, Inc. by LSI Logic is expected to be finalized later this year. The purchase is anticipated to be accretive to LSI Logic earnings in 2001. As a result of the Syntax acquisition, LSI Logic Storage Systems, Inc. will offer customers reduced cost of ownership by delivering high availability and reliability across heterogeneous computing environments with centralized management of key services. Syntax offers a number of products, including network operating software and various services that enable the sharing of files, printers and applications among heterogeneous operating systems. By joining forces, LSI Logic Storage Systems and Syntax can meet the demands of global customers for simplified network management.

“Today’s announcement is a culmination of a long-time partnership we’ve had with Syntax,” said Tom Georgens, president, LSI Logic Storage Systems, Inc. “Syntax’s products and services are perfect complements to our MetaStor N-Series products. The acquisition strengthens our ability to offer seamless integration between our storage systems and Syntax’s networking and protocol technologies, and provides us key intellectual property to win in the fast-growing network-attached storage market.” “We foresee this as a tremendous opportunity to better serve and support our rapidly expanding customer base,” said Roger Franklin, chairman and chief executive officer, Syntax, Inc. “The Syntax Enterprise Services offerings, including our TotalNET Advanced Server (TAS), will continue to be developed, marketed, and supported as a software-based solution. Our global customers will continue to receive the same quality of services they have come to expect. Together, we’re able to tackle the growing need for server consolidation and network simplification in growing large and complex enterprises.”

ACACIA TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR SKY

Chelmsford, MA — SKY Computers, Inc., a subsidiary of Analogic Corporation, announced that it has chosen Acacia Research of Adelaide, South Australia to provide pre- and post-sales technical support and systems integration for its Pacific Rim customers. SKY expects that providing a local center of technical expertise and integration for its emerging growth countries such as Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea will increase SKY’s penetration into these markets and result in increased revenues. Acacia Research, a long-time distributor and integrator for SKY Computers in Australia, provides expertise in real-time system design and integration as well as technical customer support. The Company has experience in combat system development, analysis, evaluation and associated platform sensor processing, multi-sensor data fusion, sensor and environment modeling. Current projects include a Tactical Data Management System for the Collins-class submarines that includes a SKY Computers-based multi-sensor data fusion module. Other projects include development of a comprehensive Tactical Decision Support Suite. The Collins Class Type 471 diesel-electric submarines were designed for the Royal Australian Navy. Construction is being done by the Australian Submarine Corporation in Adelaide, South Australia.

Acacia has carried out performance analysis and system audits on a variety of systems including the Collins-class Tactical Data Handling System and sonar processing. This program is sponsored by DSTO, Australia’s primary defense research and development organization and part of the Australian Department of Defense. According to Ted Huber, president of Acacia Research, “Our relationship with SKY Computers as the Australian distributor of their of real-time embedded systems has been productive and profitable for both companies. Our expertise in real time system design and development will provide SKY’s Pacific Rim customers with an added level of service and support. The partnership of Acacia and SKY will extend the influence of both companies into these rapidly growing markets.” Mike Drake, SKY director of international sales and business development adds, “Acacia brings a robust knowledge base to our efforts in Australia and the Pacific Rim where the embedded real time markets are experiencing explosive growth. In addition to technical customer support, their system design and integration expertise will be invaluable to our customers in this area. We look forward to the significant growth that this partnership will bring to both companies.”

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