Ancor Communications Lands Key Agreement with INRANGE Technologies Corporation to License Technology for Incorporation into Future Inrange Products
Companies to Produce Fibre Channel Enhancements for INRANGE CD/9000
Channel Director and Other Broadband Products
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Ancor Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANCR) announced today a licensing agreement with INRANGE Technologies Corporation, a unit of General Signal Corporation (NYSE: GSX). INRANGE will develop a series of Fibre Channel enhancements to their successful CD/9000 Channel Director. Under the agreement, INRANGE Technologies, a worldwide provider of data center networking connectivity technologies, will pay Ancor, a leading Fibre Channel switch provider, $9M over the next three quarters for licensing and prepaid royalties.
INRANGE plans to incorporate Ancor's state-of-the-art, proven Fibre Channel technology into its product lines. Specifically, INRANGE will design, develop and sell Fibre Channel capabilities as add-on features for its CD/9000 product.
"INRANGE is committed to delivering leading-edge solutions for data centers, including, of course, Fibre Channel," said Jayne Fitzgerald, Vice President and General Manager for INRANGE Technologies Corporation's Mount Laurel operations. "The agreements to license Ancor technology and incorporate Fibre Channel enhancements for the CD/9000 is only a first step. We plan to deliver Fibre Channel capabilities across a range of solutions over the next year and a half," Fitzgerald continued. "Each will offer exceptional performance with attractive price points." INRANGE Vice President of Marketing, David Supinski, added, "We chose Ancor because of its industry-leading experience and capability in Fibre Channel technology, particularly its advanced Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). Plus, Ancor has proven its ability to provide Fibre Channel solutions to a wide variety of real-world customers."
Said Ken Hendrickson, CEO of Ancor Communications, "Interest in Ancor's Fibre Channel switch technology continues to increase. This strategic agreement with INRANGE Technologies demonstrates the value of Ancor's expertise in the demanding high end of the data center market. INRANGE's success with ESCON Directors and other data center management systems, coupled with our high-performance Fibre Channel switch technology, assures solutions that will be the best in their class."
According to INRANGE, the addition of Fibre Channel capabilities will enable CD/9000 users to benefit from gigabit Fibre Channel performance without compromising their investment in current CD/9000 technology. The Company will be able to provide staged support for ESCON, FICON and DMIF(TM) (a proprietary high-speed, multiple-port interface for the CD/9000) and Fibre Channel by end-of-year 1999.
About Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel is an ANSI-standard, high-speed, low-latency data communications technology that provides gigabit-per-second transmission rates in storage/server environments and high-performance networks. Ancor GigWorks(TM) products combine the speed and simplicity of channels with the flexibility of networks to solve bandwidth problems caused by the transfer of large data files among storage, server and client nodes in high-performance compute environments. Ancor Fibre Channel products provide optimal speed and throughput for data-intensive applications such as shared storage, CAD/CAM, visualization, data mining and file backup.
About INRANGE Technologies Corporation
INRANGE Technologies Corporation, whose stock is wholly owned by General Signal Corporation, is a provider of matrix switches for wide area networks; channel switches and channel extension products for copper- and ESCON-based mainframes and SCSI- and PCI-based servers; fiber management systems; and performance monitoring and test systems for digital and analog networks. Headquartered in Mount Laurel, N.J., INRANGE Technologies has 1,000 employees at manufacturing locations in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and sales and support offices in the United States, Europe, and around the world. Further information is available at inrange.com
General Signal Corporation of Stamford, Conn., with 1997 sales of more than $1.9 billion, is a manufacturer of quality products serving customers in the process control, electrical control, and industrial technology industries throughout the world. General Signal is available on the web at generalsignal.com
About Ancor Communications
Ancor Communications, Inc. provides GigWorks(TM) high-performance storage and data-intensive network solutions based on Fibre Channel technology. The company was the first to deliver a Fibre Channel switch, and the first to top the one-gigabit performance level. Ancor is a member of the Fibre Channel Association, the Storage Network Industry Association, the ANSI Standards Committee and the University of New Hampshire Fibre Channel Consortium to promote the advancement of Fibre Channel standards and interoperability. Information on Ancor is available on the World Wide Web at ancor.com
Cautionary statement: Information contained in this press release other than historical information should be considered forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors which may affect whether such forward looking statements can be achieved include: market acceptance of Fibre Channel products in general and of the products incorporating the licensed technology in particular; the ability of Ancor to develop the enhancements to the targeted products and technology; and the ability of INRANGE Technologies to successfully market and sell Fibre Channel products. Retention of $2M of the prepaid royalties is contingent on Ancor's completion of certain deliverables defined in the contract.
SOURCE Ancor Communications, Inc.
CO: Ancor Communications, Inc.; INRANGE Technologies Corporation; General Signal Corporation
ST: Minnesota, New Jersey, Connecticut
IN: CPR
SU:
09/24/98 17:37 EDT prnewswire.com
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