BLADE Network Technologies Teams Up With Bell Micro to Address Rising Demand for 10 Gigabit Ethernet Data Center Networking

Bell Micro Will Distribute BLADE's Virtual, Cooler and Easier RackSwitch Data Center Switch Products in Europe

• Press Release
• Source: BLADE Network Technologies
• On 8:00 am EST, Tuesday January 13, 2009

CHESSINGTON, UNITED KINGDOM and SANTA CLARA, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 13, 2009 -- Bell Microproducts Inc., one of the world's largest value-added distributors of storage and computing technology, and BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. (BLADE), the trusted leader in data center networking, announced today an agreement that enables Bell Microproducts to distribute BLADE's Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) RackSwitch product family throughout Europe.

Bell Micro will sell and co-market BLADE's "Virtual, Cooler and Easier" RackSwitch product family to address the rapidly emerging market for 10GbE data center networking. According to Dell'Oro Group, 10 Gigabit Ethernet is expected to reach 15.1 million ports and represent one quarter of all switch market revenue in 2012 ("Five-Year Ethernet Forecast, July 2008").

"BLADE Network Technologies is a major networking provider for Bell Micro in Europe, especially for adding strength and depth to our growing 10GbE portfolio of products," said Tom Ellis, Business Unit Manager for Storage Solutions at Bell Microproducts. "We see 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology as a key growth area for our business in 2009 as a technology that will remove the bottlenecks we are now seeing in today's data center and SAN environments."

Ellis continued, "As more servers are going into blade environments with multi-core CPUs, we are seeing server throughput outstrip the networks they are attached to with the result that Gigabit Ethernet no longer has enough bandwidth. Add to this the move to converged networks using emerging technologies, such as Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and the 10GbE message is clear and very strong. We welcome BLADE's shared commitment to customer satisfaction and trusted relationships in delivering easy-to-use, high-performance yet low-cost solutions.

"BLADE and Bell Micro are partnering to market 10GbE solutions, such as iSCSI SANs equipped with 10GbE for scalable storage performance, single-wire networks that converge SAN, NAS and application servers on a unified 10GbE infrastructure and10GbE environments tuned for Video on Demand (VoD) and IPTV broadcast environments, as well as 10GbE networking in hosted data center environments and 10GbE for High Performance Computing (HPC). The two companies will also pursue opportunities for 10GbE networking for server and storage consolidation and green IT."

"We are very pleased that Bell Microproducts shares BLADE's vision for the data center network," said Charles Ferland, Vice President of EMEA Sales at BLADE Network Technologies. "Bell Micro and BLADE will work together to ensure that customers throughout Europe understand the value of 10 Gigabit Ethernet and how best to harness the Virtual, Cooler and Easier capabilities of our RackSwitch family for demanding data center networks."

BLADE Reaches 5 Million Ports Milestone at UK Customer

A recent BLADE switch installation at Phorm put BLADE's total shipments past the 5 million ports milestone. A technology company specialising in highly targeted online advertising, Phorm has deployed BLADE's new top-of-rack RackSwitch data center switch for its innovative Open Internet Exchange (OIX), which enables advertisers to connect precisely with their key customers.

"Phorm delivers advertising technology services that are secure, innovative and high performance," said Marc Burgess, Phorm's Senior Vice President of Technology. "We expect the same qualities from our partners. BLADE Network Technologies' RackSwitch offered us the best price performance and the highest level of technical flexibility for our needs. We look forward to working with BLADE as we progress our strategy globally."

About BLADE's Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet RackSwitch Products

BLADE's RackSwitch G8100, a 1U top-of-rack switch equipped with 24 lossless, low-latency 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) ports, is designed for emerging high-volume 10 GE application environments such as high-performance clusters that require latency of 300 nanoseconds or less, and/or as a 10 GE aggregation switch. BLADE's RackSwitch G8000, a 1U top-of-rack switch equipped with 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports for uplinks and/or stacking, is designed for rack-level server connectivity, Web 2.0 cloud clusters and/or as a Gigabit aggregation switch.

About BLADE Network Technologies

BLADE Network Technologies is the leading supplier of Gigabit and 10G Ethernet network infrastructure solutions that reside in blade servers and "scale-out" server and storage racks. BLADE's new "virtual, cooler and easier" RackSwitch family demonstrates the promise of "Rackonomics" -- a revolutionary approach for scaling out data center networks to drive down total cost of ownership. The company's customers include half of the Fortune 500 across 26 industry segments, and an installed base of over 220,000 network switches representing more than 1,100,000 servers and over 5 million switch ports. For more information, visit www.bladenetwork.net.

About Bell Microproducts Inc.

Bell Microproducts is an international, value-added distributor of a wide range of high-tech products, solutions and services, including storage systems, servers, software, computer components and peripherals, as well as maintenance and professional services. An industry-recognized specialist in storage products, this company is one of the world's largest storage-centric value-added distributors.

Bell Microproducts is uniquely qualified with deep technical and application expertise to service a broad range of information technology needs. From design to deployment, its products are available at any level of integration, from components to subsystem assemblies and fully-integrated, tested and certified system solutions. More information can be found in the company's SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts Web site at www.bellmicro.com.

Safe Harbor Statement for Bell Microproducts:

This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company's current views of future events and financial performance, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or facts to differ materially from such statements for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: the ability to successfully integrate the operations of recent acquisitions, industry conditions, changes in product supply, pricing, and customer demand, competition, other vagaries in the computer and electronic components markets, changes in relationships with key suppliers, foreign currency fluctuations and the other risks described from time to time in the Company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K). Investors should take such risks into account when making investment decisions. Shareholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements.

BLADE Network Technologies, the BLADE logo and RackSwitch are trademarks of BLADE Network Technologies. All other names or marks are property of their respective owners.

     CONTACTS:
     Charles Ferland
     VP of EMEA Sales
     BLADE Network Technologies
     +49 (0) 151 1265 0830
     Email Contact
      
     Kate Watkins / Sara Collinge
     Strategic PR
     + 44 (0) 1494 434434
     Email Contact
     Email Contact
      
     Tom Ellis
     Business Unit Manager for Storage Solutions
     Bell Microproducts Ltd
     +44 (0) 7876 445672
     Email Contact
      
     In the US contact:
     Tim Shaughnessy
     BLADE Network Technologies
     (408) 850-8963
     Email Contact
      
     Zee Zaballos
     ZNA Communications
     (831) 425-1581 x201
     Email Contact