Irving, Texas July 29, 2002 -SANcastle Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of fabric border switches, today announced that it has successfully completed interoperability testing with IBM’s TotalStorage Fibre Array Storage Technology (FAStT) family of products and has earned IBM TotalStorage™ Proven.

The IBM TotalStorage™ Proven program builds on IBM’s already extensive interoperability efforts to develop and deliver products and solutions that work together with third party products.

"This program provides SANcastle customers with pre-tested solutions and configurations to simplify the adoption of our storage software technology," said Peter Dixon, executive vice president of sales and marketing for SANcastle. "Our participation in the program demonstrates that SANcastle and IBM are committed to work together to provide more effective and scalable storage solutions and services."

SANcastle® enables enterprises to exploit the benefits of both Ethernet and Fibre Channel through LAN/MAN/WAN/SAN convergence. SANcastle allows users to have a real choice in designing their network infrastructures. By enabling seamless, multi-protocol access to both Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks, users can really exploit all elements of their existing infrastructures – computer, storage, and network.

For users who want to interconnect SAN Islands, the switches can be configured to provide multi-point SAN Island integration within a single room or across MANs or WANs. The switches support e-port for inter-SAN connectivity with all other Fibre Channel vendors’ switches using autonomous region naming, but also guaranteeing the in-order delivery of packets. This allows local and remote connectivity as well as connectivity of disparate switch islands for enterprises that have already deployed differing SAN island configurations.

The unique IP translation capability of the switches enables enterprises to exploit the benefits of both Ethernet and Fibre Channel. The ability to dynamically map VLAN tagging into Fibre Channel zones enables users to segregate traffic for management and security without unnecessarily increasing port counts or deploying redundant infrastructures. This allows maximum utilization of the bandwidth on both sides of the equation.

"With the increased visibility of SANcastle solutions to the IBM Business Partner and sales representative community, SANcastle can have greater visibility with customers and look towards smoother, reliable implementations. This can lead to reduced sales cycles and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction," said Kathleen Smith, vice president, Storage Solutions for IBM’s Storage Systems Group.

The IBM TotalStorage Proven program supports the ability of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to build high-quality solutions with the latest technology on leading storage platforms as well as reduce solution design time when multiple, tested building blocks have already been pre-tested.

About SANcastle

SANcastle Technologies, Inc., is a privately held manufacturer of multi-protocol switches for integrating Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet networks. Founded in 1998, SANcastle enables enterprises to perform business applications by creating a global fabric that seamlessly connects disparate networks regardless of the infrastructure environments and without disruption or technology changes. For more information, call or visit the website at www.sancastle.com