STEC, Mellanox, DataON to Showcase SSD-Based HA-DAS at SC12

SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 12, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STEC, Inc. STEC, a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and products, today announced that it will demonstrate a joint SSD-based, high-availability direct-attached storage (HA-DAS) solution, in collaboration with Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. MLNX MLNX and DataON Storage, in the STEC booth (#3948) at the SC12 supercomputing conference, taking place Nov. 12-15, 2012, at the Salt Palace Convention Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The companies are showcasing a high-performance computing (HPC) deployment that offers high throughput and CPU efficiency, underscoring the I/O price/performance advantages of the companies' combined solutions, unmatched by traditional storage vendors. Running on a commodity Intel server with Mellanox remote direct memory access (RDMA)-enabled interconnects, a DataON DNS-1640 6Gb/s SAS 24-bay storage shelf, and STEC s840 Enterprise SAS SSDs, the solution enhances the benefits of Microsoft Windows Server 2012's Storage Spaces and SMB Direct features.

In recent testing completed at the Microsoft test lab, 1.45 million input/output operations per second (IOPS) transfer speeds were achieved using this performance-tuned storage stack from STEC, Mellanox, and DataON. The performance numbers are a result of testing a single node configured with the Mellanox ConnectX^®-3 40Gb/s Ethernet with RDMA (or ConnectX-3 FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand) adapter with a single DataON storage shelf using STEC ZeusIOPS^® SSDs within the Microsoft Windows Server 2012, Storage Spaces environment.

STEC is also highlighting a second, high-availability solution, running an HA-DAS clustered environment under Microsoft Windows Server 2012. The HA-DAS system is deployed on dual independent servers (two-node cluster) and a single DataON DNS-1640 2U 24-bay storage enclosure, leveraging STEC s840 Enterprise SAS SSDs to deliver performance-tuned clustered storage solutions that benefit from the low-latency advantages of the s840 SSDs.

To see STEC's enterprise solid-state solutions for HPC and supercomputing applications, please visit Booth #3948 at SC12. For more information on the company's SSD solutions, go to www.stec-inc.com.

About STEC, Inc.

STEC, Inc. is a leading global provider of enterprise-class solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and solutions tailored to meet the high-performance, high-reliability and high-endurance needs of today's data-intensive server and storage platforms. With headquarters in Santa Ana, California, and locations worldwide, STEC leverages almost two decades of solid-state knowledge and experience to design, manufacture and deliver the most comprehensive line of PCIe, SAS, SATA, and embedded SSDs on the market today. In addition, STEC's EnhanceIO™ SSD Cache Software enables IT managers to cost-effectively scale server application performance. For more information, please visit www.stec-inc.com.

The STEC, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1079

About Mellanox

Mellanox Technologies is a leading supplier of end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect solutions and services for servers and storage. Mellanox interconnect solutions increase data center efficiency by providing the highest throughput and lowest latency, delivering data faster to applications and unlocking system performance capability. Mellanox offers a choice of fast interconnect products: adapters, switches, software and silicon that accelerate application runtime and maximize business results for a wide range of markets including high performance computing, enterprise data centers, Web 2.0, cloud, storage and financial services. More information is available at www.mellanox.com.

About DataON Storage

DataON Storage is the leading provider of OS-Agnostic Storage Enclosures. As a pioneer in enterprise-class storage, DataON delivers reliable high-performance scalable solutions. DataON Storage supplies storage disk shelf products based on 6Gb/s SAS technology; including 4U 60-bay 3.5" ultra-density JBOD, 4U 24-bay 3.5" best-of-breed and 2U 24-bay 2.5" performance-tuned storage enclosures. In addition to SAS JBODs, DataON Storage also offers disk shelf management software DSM 3.1 for NexentaStor, OpenSolaris and Solaris OS and Windows Server 2012. More information is available at www.dataonstorage.com.

STEC, the STEC logo, EnhanceIO and ZeusIOPS are either registered trademarks or trademarks of STEC, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks or brand names referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those statements concerning the relationships and collaboration between STEC, Mellanox, and DataON; the benefits, capabilities, performance, and cost savings of STEC's SSD solutions; the benefits, capabilities, performance, and cost savings of the combined solutions from STEC, Mellanox, and DataON; and the evolving enterprise storage and server markets in general. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements are detailed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, made from time to time by STEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. The information contained in this press release is a statement of STEC's present intentions, beliefs or expectations. STEC may change its intentions, beliefs or expectations, at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors, from STEC's assumptions and otherwise. STEC undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date thereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.