SNIA IP Storage Forum Delivers Education to International Audience; Expansion of ``IP...

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) IP Storage Forum (IPS Forum) today announced the continued expansion of its highly-successful "IP Storage On-the-Road" seminar series, with

future stops planned in Canada, Europe and new locations in the United States. These half-day seminars, designed to educate attendees about the what, why, where and how of IP storage solutions, consist of presentations, real-world case studies based on enterprise deployments and demonstrations delivered by vendors, industry visionaries and leading analysts.

Seminar attendees have found the SNIA IPS Forum events valuable in providing end-users with actual solutions to real-life problems.

"I was impressed with the quality of presenters and exhibitors at the IP Storage event, as the information they gave was very timely and useful," stated Yubert Fang, vice president of business development, Conduit Systems, and attendee to the Orange County, CA, event in early 2004. "In addition to the high quality of the presentations, it was refreshing to see vendors that normally compete against one another actually working together toward the common goal and benefit of the IP Storage market. The vendors were even presenting their competitors' solutions!"

Building on its successful "IP Storage On-the-Road" seminar series that visited New York, Houston, Washington D.C., Orange County and Chicago, the SNIA IPS Forum will further its efforts in IP storage education by visiting the following North America cities in 2004:

-- Boston in May

-- Seattle in June

-- Atlanta in September

-- Toronto in October

-- New York/New Jersey in November

The seminar series also will expand to Europe in the coming months.

David Dale, chair of the SNIA IPS Forum, said, "The success of the IPS Forum road shows has been tremendous. The forum's focus in 2004 is customer education on a global basis. We are thrilled to continue the seminar series in 2004 in North America and we look forward to expansion into Europe, in co-operation with SNIA-Europe, and beyond."

To register or learn more about the upcoming "IP Storage On-the-Road" seminar series, please visit http://www.snia.org/ipstorage/news/ontheroad/.

About the SNIA IPS Forum

The IP Storage Forum is focused on driving the broad adoption of IP-based SAN storage solutions. The Forum fulfills its mission by:

-- Promoting IP storage, its standards, and the industry's

implementation of these standards

-- Promoting the value of IP Storage solutions to the industry

and its customers

-- Accelerating the SNIA's evolution to a worldwide organization

embracing all storage networking technologies

-- Conducting and promoting interoperability demonstrations and

plug-fests

-- Conducting, and engaging SNIA committees, to accomplish

extensive education and end-user outreach programs

For more information, visit www.ipstorage.org.

About the SNIA

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a not-for-profit organization, made up more than 300 companies and individuals spanning virtually the entire storage industry. SNIA members share a common goal, to advance the adoption of storage networks as complete and trusted solutions. To this end, the SNIA is uniquely committed to delivering standards, education and services that will propel open storage networking solutions into the broader market. For information, visit the SNIA Web site at http://www.snia.org.