October 17, 2006

Pillar Data Systems extends award-winning
Axiom™ portfolio
~ company doubles NAS performance, introduces iSCSI connectivity and adds fibre channel drive technology ~

Pillar Data Systems, a leading provider of enterprise network storage systems, has announced enhancements and new configuration options to its award-winning Pillar Axiom storage system. With a wider variety of configurations than the competition, the Axiom is the most flexible, wide-ranging storage system in the market today.

Pillar Data Systems has established itself as one of the fastest growing storage companies ever. Its success is based on its multiple award-winning storage technology, its unique approach to solving traditional data storage problems and its focus on delivering unrivaled levels of customer service. 

Two new configurations provide small-to-medium size enterprise customers with more flexibility and the choice of an entry-level Axiom configuration at a lower price point, smaller capacity and ease of installation, while enterprise customers gain improved availability, scalability, security and performance.

“We feel strongly that companies should not have to adopt disparate storage platforms for varying requirements within their IT infrastructures,” said Mike Workman, chairman, president and CEO, Pillar Data Systems.  “Our goal has always been to make storage easier to use, manage and maintain. We’ll continue to extend the capabilities of our Axiom storage platform and AxiomONE software suite so customers can rely on us to help them simplify, consolidate and save on their investments.”

Ideally suited for small-to-medium enterprises, branch offices, departmental and dedicated applications, Pillar’s new entry-level configuration options include:

Greater flexibility
-  Fibre Channel, iSCSI SAN or NAS
-  Modular software: buy only what you need
-  SATA or Fibre Channel storage

Granular, easy-to-deploy scalability
-  1.6 TB to 24 TB

Enterprise class reliability
-  Fault tolerance and redundancy

With the newest entry-level configuration, IT managers gain enterprise class performance and reliability in a flexible solution.  Also, as opposed to competitive offerings, data migration within the Pillar Axiom storage platform is simple, secure and does not impact system performance. Pillar also continues its unique software licensing model where users pay a one-time license fee regardless of capacity.

In addition to the entry level configuration, Pillar is also extending the configuration options of the Axiom system, making it more ideally suited for high performance, highly available storage infrastructures.  Pillar’s new enterprise configuration includes:

• Greater performance
  -  Fibre channel drives with 4Gb/s FC interface, providing “premium”  performance within the platform
  -  100-percent increase in NAS performance
  -  Faster NDMP backup and user interface
• Improved availability with non-disruptive firmware upgrades
• Ability to dynamically adjust qualities of service levels for different types of data
• SMI-S support
• Double the capacity: 380 TB in single system
• Greater data integrity and compliance-ready architecture with Pillar’s AxiomONE SecureWORMfs

(477 words)

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Pillar Data Systems
Founded in 2001, Pillar Data Systems develops enterprise network storage systems. The company’s Pillar Axiom solution, driven by its innovative policy-based management capabilities, integrates SAN and NAS into a centrally managed storage platform. Pillar Axiom systems consolidate multiple tiers of enterprise network storage into a single, easily managed system capable of scaling to hundreds of terabytes of capacity.

Pillar Data Systems is privately funded by Tako Ventures, LLC, the venture arm of Larry Ellison. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California with a development office in Longmont, Colorado. The EMEA headquarters is in Drogheda near Dublin, with initial operations across Ireland, UK, Germany and France.
 
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