Levanta's North American Partner Program Opens Up New Linux Management Revenue Opportunities for Resellers and Systems Integrators; Leader in Linux Management Now Recruiting Channel Partners in All Major Markets Across North America

Business Wire, August 16, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO -- Levanta (www.levanta.com), the leader in Linux management, today announced the launch of their North American Partner Plus channel program (http://www.levanta.com/partners/), creating exciting revenue opportunities for resellers and systems integrators with Levanta's award-winning Intrepid M Linux management appliance (http://www.levanta.com/products/intrepid-m.shtml). The Intrepid M -- named "Most Innovative Hardware Solution" by LinuxWorld Magazine, and finalist in eWeek's "Product Excellence Awards" -- turns formerly time-intensive Linux server management tasks into simple point-and-click operations, and opens up a very lucrative revenue opportunity for resellers and SI's around Linux server management.

According to IDC's Server Tracker report (http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20060221233314772), Linux servers recently accounted for more than $1.6 billion in quarterly revenue, marking the operating system's fourteenth quarter of double-digit growth, and year-over-year revenue growth of more than 20%. As Linux adoption continues to skyrocket, the revenue opportunities for resellers and systems integrators targeting the actual management of Linux systems continue to grow.

"In the newest study (www.linuxinthechannel.com) about Linux adoption in the channel, 61% of solution providers cited lack of in-house expertise as a customer obstacle to Linux acceptance, and 50% cited the perception that Linux is more difficult to manage," said Miguel Nhuch, VP of Sales and Channels at Levanta. "Levanta is the first Linux management product that allows solution providers to immediately put their customers' Linux manageability concerns to rest, and start enjoying the low acquisition cost, security and reliability advantages that Linux has over other operating systems."

The Intrepid M provides a centralized management console for Linux servers and workstations, and even manages virtual machines running on Linux. The Intrepid M provides state-of-the-art Linux management capabilities -- while at the same time being extremely easy to install and use, and selling at a fraction of the cost of other management systems. The appliance is optimized for most common external storage environments, and includes a single terabyte of built-in storage (for SMB customers that do not have storage arrays in place).

"Any reseller knows that the most common concern for customers around Linux is the ongoing maintenance and support costs that they are going to face," said John Marciano, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Sales at KIS (www.kiscc.com), a Levanta reseller partner. "With the Intrepid M, not only can you demonstrate to your customers that Linux management is extremely simple and reliable with the right tool -- you can also slash the amount of time that you as a reseller spend in the initial installation and configuration of your customers' Linux environments. This is the first solution on the market that makes Linux environments easier to manage than most Windows environments, and Levanta is opening up a unique opportunity for resellers to make money in the Linux marketplace."

"The Intrepid M is simply the best solution on the market today for Linux server management -- whether your customer has 10 Linux servers, or thousands," said Raj Chahal, VP Product Marketing at Genstor Systems (www.genstor.com) a Levanta reseller partner. "Plus, Levanta gives the type of ongoing training and marketing support that puts its partners in a great position to make money. Genstor sees the Intrepid M being one of our top server management revenue generators. We already have a number of customers that are extremely impressed at how easy Linux management can be with the right solution in place."

Ideal partners have Linux practices in place, with a basic familiarity of the most common Linux distributions, as well as general knowledge of Open Source technologies. Industry certifications are a plus, but not a pre-requisite for enrollment.

In July, Levanta announced NetApp and Onstor external storage support, and added advanced virtual machine management into the Intrepid M appliance. Resellers and SI's with storage system expertise are also encouraged to contact Levanta for more details about partnership opportunities.

For the full range of support, joint marketing, margins and other partner program details, please visit: http://www.levanta.com/partners/

About Levanta

Levanta is a leader in Linux management and data virtualization. Levanta's unique technology marries change control with data virtualization, delivering dramatically faster and more flexible control of Linux on commodity hardware, racks, blades, boxes, and even virtual machines. Levanta's customers include industry leaders in financial services, entertainment, government, retail and telecommunications. Levanta has partnerships with IBM, HP, Novell, and Red Hat. A private company, Levanta is headquartered in San Mateo and can be found on the Web at http://www.levanta.com.