Bell Microproducts Selects MetaStor RAID Storage Products to Complete
Mass Storage Offering
Partnership Allows Leading Distributor to Expand its Mass Storage Offering
SAN JOSE, Calif./WICHITA, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 1999--
Bell Microproducts Inc. (NASDAQ:BELM), North America's leading distributor of mass
storage products, and MetaStor(R) Storage Solutions, a division of LSI Logic Storage
Systems, Inc., have entered into an agreement to distribute MetaStor RAID storage systems.
Mutually beneficial to both companies, today's agreement provides key growth opportunities
in the form of new reseller partners for MetaStor Storage Solutions and an expanded mass
storage offering for Bell Microproducts.
Today's focus on information-rich environments such as the Internet, Intranet, and data
warehousing has brought unprecedented growth in storage requirements. Storage now ranks
as one of the fastest growing markets for the indirect channels.
To serve the needs of its customers as they manage these growing data resources, Bell
Microproducts will market the complete scalable MetaStor line including all S-Class RAID
storage systems, SYMplicity(TM) Storage Manager software and the network-attached storage
(NAS) solutions. Together these products provide high availability, fast performance, and
scalable capacity up to multi-terabytes of storage.
The MetaStor line is a natural extension of the current Bell Microproducts position as a leading
storage solutions provider. Bell Microproducts will now offer complete solutions for both
storage area networking (SAN) and NAS applications.
"Companies are realizing that data is one of their most important assets," said Phil Roussey,
SR VP of Computer products marketing for Bell Microproducts. "SAN solutions and NAS
devices have emerged as state-of-the-art methods of safeguarding and managing these assets.
The MetaStor family will enable Bell Microproducts to offer the highest quality products
available in the industry as customers employ storage solutions to store and protect their data,"
said Roussey. MetaStor Storage Solutions Expands its Reseller Base
"Bell Microproducts is a leader in storage solutions and a pioneer in Fibre Channel
connectivity," said Bill Reed, managing director of LSI Logic's MetaStor division. "Our
distribution agreement will help MetaStor Storage Solutions develop new reseller partners for
the product line," Reed added.
Bell Microproducts' value-added resellers and system integrators can now offer all the pieces
necessary for implementing SAN and NAS solutions, available for immediate delivery.
Custom configurations as required are also available from the Bell Microproducts value-added
center. About MetaStor Products
The MetaStor(R) product family is a brand of LSI Logic Systems, Inc., a leading provider of
scalable, high-performance storage systems for the enterprise. LSI Logic Storage Systems,
Inc., is a subsidiary of LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE:LSI), the System on a Chip
Company(R), a leading supplier of custom high-performance semiconductors. MetaStor
products are offered to end users through a worldwide network of value-added resellers and
system integrators. The MetaStor product family includes a complete line of SCSI, Fibre
Channel, and network-attache storage products for the open systems market. It also includes
software that simplifies and centralizes the management of storage resources to minimize the
administrative costs associated with data storage. For further MetaStor products information
please call 888/METASTOR or visit www.metastor.com. The e-mail address for product
information is info@metastor.com About Bell Microproducts, Inc.
Bell Microproducts, Inc. is a distributor of high-technology products serving the industrial
and commercial markets. The company markets and distributes the products of more than 100
manufacturers of semiconductors, disk drives, tape drives, optical drives, computers,
enhancement products and peripherals primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs),
value-added resellers (VARs) and system integrators nationwide. The company adds value to
it's products through a broad range of services, including testing, kitting, mass storage
subsystem assembly and the integration of complete computer systems.
More information is available in the company's SEC filings or by contacting the company
directly. Bell Microproducts' news and product/service information are available on the Web
at www.bellmicro.com.
Note to Editors: The LSI Logic design, The System on a Chip Company(R), MetaStor(R),
and SYMplicity(TM) are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Logic Corp. All other
products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be
trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Bell Microproducts Inc.
Philip M. Roussey, 408/451-1622
or
LSI Logic Storage Systems
Joanna Tschiffely, 970/206-5882
joanna.tschiffely@lsil.com
or
Brodeur Porter Novelli
Karem Planas, 602/954-0044
kplanas@brodeur.com
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