JNI Emerald HBAs Approved for EMC Storage Systems for Sun Platforms; EMC Extends Symmetrix Connectivity Options by Qualifying JNI Dual Port PCI and SBus Fibre Channel HBAs

Business Wire, Dec 18, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 2000

JNI(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:JNIC), the fastest growing Fibre Channel host bus adapter company in 1999(1), today announced that EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) has qualified JNI's Emerald(TM)-based FibreStar(TM) FCE2-6412 dual-ported 64-bit 66MHz PCI-to-Fibre Channel and FCE2-1063 dual-ported SBus-to-Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) for the full line of EMC's Symmetrix(R) storage systems connected to Solaris servers.

EMC Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems support all platforms, consolidating various operating systems into one heterogeneous solution by providing high performance, scalable capacity, continuous availability, and universal connectivity with unique data protection, management and sharing capabilities.

"JNI's Fibre Channel HBAs have a proven track record of providing extremely reliable connectivity to our Enterprise Storage systems for mission-critical applications," said Doug Fierro, EMC's Director of Enterprise Storage Networks. "We're pleased to have qualified JNI's Emerald-based dual port PCI and SBus solutions as part of the EMC E-Lab Tested program and for use with Symmetrix."

"We are thrilled to be in the position to allow EMC to better address the connectivity needs of its customers," said Tracy Crowe, vice president of marketing, JNI Corporation. "EMC is the market leader in high availability and high quality enterprise storage solutions. Qualifying our Emerald-based dual-port SBus and PCI solutions serves as a testament to both companies' commitment to providing the best in Fibre Channel storage network solutions."

JNI's Emerald-based Fibre Channel adapters offer universal compatibility and high reliability within Storage Area Networks (SANs). These dual-ported HBAs work across all Fibre Channel topologies -- switched fabric, arbitrated loop and point-to-point environments. The dual, independent channel designs of the FCE2-1063 and FCE2-6412 feature two of JNI's proprietary Emerald ASIC controllers operating independently on each HBA. The unique dual channel design of the JNI HBAs effectively provides two full-featured adapters in one slot at a lower price-per-port. Both of the Emerald PCI and SBus HBAs support the same driver for Solaris operating systems v2.6, 7 and 8, due to the common code base of JNI's Unix DriverSuite(TM) driver software.

EMC and JNI have collaborated on a number of projects over the years. In May of 2000, JNI announced it had reached a three-year agreement to supply EMC Corporation with JNI FibreStar Fibre Channel adapter cards for EMC CLARiiON(R) storage systems attached to SBus-based Solaris servers. In June of this year, JNI announced its membership within EMC's E-Infostructure Interoperability Program and the qualification of several of its PCI and SBus Fibre Channel HBAs for the "EMC E-Lab Tested" product designation.

About EMC

EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing the information infrastructure for a connected world. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.emc.com.

About JNI Corporation

JNI Corporation is the fastest-growing Fibre Channel host bus adapter company and the No. 2 manufacturer of Fibre Channel HBAs (non-captive) in 1999 in revenue according to IDC (3/00). JNI offers a broad line of HBAs, ASICs and software for storage area networks (SANs). JNI's PCI products operate on Solaris, Windows 2000, Windows NT, HP-UX, AIX, Novell, Linux and Mac OS systems. JNI's SBus products run on Solaris. Customers include Amdahl, Avid, Chaparral, Compaq StorageWorks, Consan, EMC, Eurologic, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, LSI Logic, McDATA, StorageTek and Sun Microsystems. Company headquarters are in San Diego, with offices throughout the U.S. and Munich (Munchen), Germany.

JNI -- First in Fibre Channel(TM)

Forward Looking Statements

With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements (including but not limited to express or implied statements regarding the performance of, demand for and sales of JNI's products and future revenues or earnings that may be associated with JNI's relationships with EMC) that involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks uncertainties include our dependence on a small number of OEM and distribution channel customers; delays in product development; our dependence on sole source and limited source suppliers for key components; increasing competition in the Fibre Channel market; our exclusive focus on Fibre Channel products; rapid technological change in our industry; changes in the storage area networks market; our reliance on manufacturers in other countries; litigation involving intellectual property and other issues; and other risk factors discussed in the company's reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recent Form S-1 filed on Oct. 19, 2000.