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EqualLogic Expands Partner Program for Virtual Infrastructures into Europe

Leading European VMware Resellers and Consultants Pair EqualLogic and VMware Infrastructure 3 to Maximise Business Benefit

London, UK — 3 April 2007 — EqualLogic®, the leading provider of enterprise-class iSCSI storage area network (SAN) solutions, today announced that it has extended its Preferred VMware Partner Program into Europe to address the growing customer demand for complete virtual infrastructure solutions based on VMware Infrastructure 3 and EqualLogic PS Series storage. EqualLogic’s Preferred VMware Partner Program now provides customers in both the U.S. and Europe with turnkey virtual infrastructure solutions through the in-house VMware expertise and professional services offerings of key partners.

EqualLogic’s Preferred VMware Partner Program was successfully launched in the U.S. in August 2006 and has grown more than 70 percent since its introduction. Members of EqualLogic’s Preferred VMware Partner Program include select VMware Authorized Consultants (VACs) and VIP Enterprise Partners who are fully trained and qualified to sell, implement and support VMware Infrastructure 3 environments based on EqualLogic iSCSI SAN solutions. In addition, these partners offer services to simplify the deployment of VMware Infrastructure 3 including assessment, design, implementation and management services.

“We are delighted to be one of the first in Europe to benefit from this initiative,” said Jason Clark, sales manager for Foundation IT Limited. “We are increasingly seeing customer demand for virtualised storage and server infrastructures that deliver easy management and significant cost savings, as well as disaster recovery capabilities and power and cooling efficiencies. EqualLogic’s virtualised iSCSI storage works extremely well with VMware Infrastructure 3 to offer our customers these capabilities. We recommend the joint EqualLogic/VMware solution to address the virtual infrastructure needs of our customers with complete confidence.”

Storage consolidation is a key component of virtual infrastructures to increase usage rates, enrich corporate data protection methods, enable disaster recovery and enhance virtual server availability and workload migration. By deploying EqualLogic as the storage backbone for a VMware environment, IT managers circumvent the cost and complexity of traditional Fibre Channel SANs without compromising the enterprise-class storage demands of a VMware Infrastructure 3 environment. EqualLogic has qualified and fully supports the EqualLogic PS Series family in VMware Infrastructure 3 environments.

“We are very pleased to expand this program into Europe. As more and more customers across the globe are realising the benefits that storage and server virtualisation can bring to their IT infrastructures, it is important for us to be able to reach out to those customers with the complete skill set required to offer solutions tailored to their business. Through this program, we have a very strong base of partners that are leading the industry in architecting and deploying virtualised infrastructures, giving our customers the support and expertise that they need to achieve key business goals,” said Bob Skelley, vice president of channel development at EqualLogic.

Preferred VMware Partners also will be available as business partners to other EqualLogic channel partners. This will extend the opportunity for Preferred VMware Partners to deliver their VMware professional services and expertise to current and prospective customers throughout the entire community of EqualLogic resellers. In addition, preferred partners will receive added benefits including training, market development funds and access to cooperative marketing and sales programs to advance virtualised infrastructure business.

EqualLogic is a VMware Technology Alliance Program partner. A cornerstone of the partnership is a joint effort to fully integrate EqualLogic’s PS Series iSCSI SANs with VMware’s suite of virtual infrastructure solutions in support of a growing base of customers and resellers who require both virtual storage and server technologies to simplify data center operations. EqualLogic and VMware have a cooperative support agreement in place to ensure customers experience seamless support for their deployment of the two companies’ combined product sets.

Inaugural members of EqualLogic’s VMware Preferred Partner Program in Europe include:

• Arumtec
• Foundation IT Limited
• Ictivity B.V.
• Latitude UK Limited
• Nviron Limited
• TecDem Limited
• Transtec AG

For more information on these Preferred VMware Partners, please visit: www.equallogic.com/partners

About EqualLogic
EqualLogic® makes data storage systems that radically simplify the way mid-size and large businesses store and protect information. EqualLogic’s award-winning PS Series storage area network (SAN) solution provides sophisticated management capabilities that reduce the time and money IT staff spend on storage. EqualLogic serves thousands of customers in 35 countries from its headquarters in Nashua, New Hampshire, and offices throughout Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.equallogic.com.


EqualLogic® is a registered trademark of EqualLogic®, Inc. Other marks belong to their respective owners.

Media Contacts:
Vee Baker
EqualLogic
020 7556 7878


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