SMC® Networks and Hammer™ Storage announce partnership to advance price/performance in network storage
New partnership creates incredible value on all SMC switches shipped with hammer's Z-Series line of highly scalable SoIP storage solutions
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 01, 2006
Hammer Storage, a division of Bell Microproducts, Inc. (NASDAQ: BELM) and SMC Networks, Inc., today announced a new partnership that further enhances the price/performance benefits already realized with the Hammer Storage Z-Series line of network storage solutions and with SMC Networks’ Ethernet switching products. The partnership provides for substantial discounts on SMC switches sold with Hammer’s Z-Box and Z-Rack SoIP network storage solutions. Both SMC and Bell Microproducts will market the combined SMC-Hammer Z-Series solution to their existing customers, giving both companies exposure to the expanding storage market.
The Hammer Storage Z-Series solutions are enabled by Zetera’s widely-acclaimed Z-SAN™ technology, the only technology available to deliver on the vision of Storage-over-IP (SoIP). SoIP uses Internetworking Protocol (IP) as the only storage fabric, eliminating the need for costly controllers, dedicated switches and RAID controllers that also serve as performance bottlenecks. Compatible with any IP network, the Hammer Storage Z-Series is the most versatile network storage solution available from any vendor.
SMC’s TigerSwitch™ 1000 is a feature-rich 10/100/1000/BASE-T standalone managed switch. This gigabit edge switch is designed to handle high bandwidth applications and capable of reaching up to 48 Gbps with a non-blocking, single chip switching architecture. With advanced features that include 802.1x, IP filtering, Quality of Service (QoS) with four levels of priority and weighted fair queuing to ensure smooth transmission of mission critical data and VLANs based on frame tags or ports and spanning tree for loop detection and prevention, the SMC TigerSwitch 1000 ensures smooth, secure transition of mission critical data.
Bell is expanding the Hammer Storage line to the business market segment by continuing to add cost effective solutions to its product line of business products. “The combination of SMC’s switches and the Z-Box and Z-Rack solutions further enhances the price/performance of the Hammer line,” said Bryan Nash, Vice President and General Manager of the Hammer Storage Division. “This partnership reinforces our commitment to bring our customers the most cost effective, scalable and easy-to-use network storage solutions available.”
Fibre channel and iSCSI solutions require expensive dedicated hardware such as HBAs, TOEs, RAID controllers and fibre channel switches. For 20 to 40 percent less than leading competitors, a Z-Series with a TigerSwitch 1000 24-port gigabit switch delivers similar performance, far better scalability and the ability to handle file and volume sharing as well as block-based SAN storage on a single device.
“We have enjoyed a long-standing business relationship with Bell Microproducts, and we are pleased to extend this relationship to the Hammer Storage Division and the Hammer Z-series line,” said Tony Stramandinoli, Vice President of Marketing for SMC Networks. “We are pleased to join Hammer in bringing the combination of our feature-rich managed switches and the incredibly scalable and cost effective Hammer Z-Series to our collective customers.”
These products will be available for shipment in the current quarter and can be purchased from Bell Microproducts and most leading online retailers.
About Bell Microproducts Inc.
Bell Microproducts is an international, value-added provider of a wide range of high-technology products, solutions, and services to the industrial and commercial markets. Our offering includes RAID, NAS and SAN storage systems, servers, fibre channel, software, computer components, peripherals and a wide range of maintenance and professional services. Bell Microproducts is an industry-recognized specialist in storage products and is one of the world’s largest storage-centric value-added distributors.
Our products are available at any level of integration, from components to subsystem assemblies and fully-integrated, tested and certified system solutions. We add value with a broad range of services including design and configuration, testing, software loading, kitting, mass storage and computer system integration and custom server manufacturing. Trained and certified technical personnel perform these processes at Bell Microproducts’ ISO 9001:2000 facilities.
We market and distribute more than 140 brand name product lines, as well as our own Rorke Data and Hammer Storage brands, to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), system integrators, contract electronic manufacturing services (CEMS) customers, value-added resellers (VARs) and retailers in the Americas and Europe. More information can be found in the company’s SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts web site at www.bellmicro.com.
About SMC
For more information about SMC Networks, its comprehensive portfolio of switches or any others in its full complement of networking products, visit www.smc.com, or call 800-SMC-4YOU (800-762-4968).
This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company's current views of future events and financial performance, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or facts to differ materially from such statements for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: the ability to successfully integrate the operations of recent acquisitions, industry conditions, changes in product supply, pricing, and customer demand, competition, other vagaries in the computer and electronic components markets, changes in relationships with key suppliers, foreign currency fluctuations and the other risks described from time to time in the Company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K). Investors should take such risks into account when making investment decisions. Shareholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements.