StarWind Delivers On the Promise of Open iSCSI SAN and Freedom from Hardware

Open iSCSI SANs Allow Customers To Break Free from Proprietary Hardware, Offering Unparalleled Choice and Flexibility While Minimizing SAN Deployment and Support Costs

Burlington, Mass. – March 23, 2009 – StarWind Software, the global leader in storage virtualization and iSCSI SAN software, today announced its focus on hardware-agnostic Open iSCSI SAN solutions that will allow customers to create a SAN on their choice of industry-standard x86 servers running Microsoft Windows. The open standard of StarWind iSCSI SAN marks the emerging shift in the SAN market to provide customers with hardware-agnostic solutions that run on any platform giving customers the freedom of choice, cost-effectiveness, and interoperability that they have been looking for. Now IT professionals can benefit from implementing a SAN on standard storage hardware that is affordable and easier to manage.

StarWind's signature, fourth-generation product StarWind Server 4.0 is an iSCSI SAN software that installs on any Windows Server and converts it into a powerful and high-performance SAN. StarWind's commitment to Open iSCSI SAN solutions means that customers have the freedom to choose from a variety of industry-standard x86 servers that meet performance, scalability and budget requirements instead of being locked into proprietary solutions. Open iSCSI SANs are based on industry-standard architectures and run on standard Intel-based storage servers - this offers autonomy to IT professionals who do not want to be locked into a single vendor. This freedom of choice is important to SMB customers who need to deploy networked storage easily and affordably.

Until the advent of iSCSI SAN, SMB customers were left out of the market due to prohibitive costs of complex, proprietary SANs. Today, StarWind’s commitment to providing Open iSCSI SANs brings the freedom from proprietary hardware squarely into the hands of IT professionals.

“With our Open iSCSI SAN strategy we are committed to making networked storage accessible to SMB customers by giving them the freedom to choose hardware based on performance and budget requirements instead of being locked into SANs that proprietary vendors offer," said Zorian Rotenberg, President and CEO, StarWind Software. “Customers can also choose to leverage their existing storage and servers without the need to make new investments. Removing the barriers of proprietary hardware offers flexible and cost effective options to our customers.”

StarWind's Open iSCSI SAN provides customers with choice, flexibility and interoperability through:

• The use of industry standards such as iSCSI protocol, TCP/IP, and Ethernet networks which assist enterprises in the deployment and management of the iSCSI SAN solution since they are already familiar with standard technologies. By running over the iSCSI protocol, StarWind SAN is designed to work well in standard network environments over the existing Ethernet infrastructure and offers all the functionality of a Fibre Channel SAN without the need for expensive equipment and training.
• Support of enterprise-class x86-based servers that can be converted into a SAN with StarWind software. This allows customers to buy standard servers from Dell, HP, IBM and others who are continually investing in R&D and improving their hardware faster and better than many of the proprietary vendors. Because StarWind offers an Open iSCSI SAN solution, customers can easily install StarWind Server 4.0 on any of these servers which run Microsoft Windows.
• Support for Windows Server 2008 Clusters, high I/O and transactional applications such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Oracle and with leading virtualization solutions such as VMware ESX and VMware ESXi or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

Pricing and Availability StarWind Server 4.0 is currently available through authorized channel partners. For further information, please contact StarWind Software at 1-617-449-7717 or at the company's website www.StarWindSoftware.com.


About StarWind Software Inc.
StarWind Software is a leading global provider of reliable, powerful and affordable iSCSI SAN and storage virtualization solutions. StarWind Server is an iSCSI SAN software that converts any Windows Server into a powerful SAN and is designed for use with solutions such as VMware ESX and VMware ESXi, Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and Microsoft Windows Server clusters for databases applications such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint Server. StarWind is an affordable IP SAN solution and combines an ease of use with enterprise-class features such as Mirroring and Replication, CDP and Snapshots, Thin Provisioning and Virtual Tape Library (VTL). Since 2003, StarWind has pioneered the iSCSI SAN industry and has been the solution of choice for thousands of global customers in over 50 countries, from small and mid-size businesses, to governments, and to Fortune 1000 clients.

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StarWind Software and the StarWind logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of StarWind Software Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Media Contact:
StarWind Software Inc.
John Welch, 1-617-449-7717
media@starwindsoftware.com