Dot Hill Expands Patent Portfolio, Continues to Drive Innovation in Storage Industry

CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: HILL), a world-class provider of entry-level and midrange storage solutions for OEMs, systems integrators and resellers, today announced it has been granted two new patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, bringing the company's portfolio to a total of 53 patents.

Developed by Dot Hill's Longmont, Colo., engineering team, these latest innovations are intended to give Dot Hill's OEMs, system integrators and resellers a competitive edge in providing innovative, high performance storage solutions to the marketplace.

The newest patents granted to Dot Hill include:

-- U.S. Patent 7,558,897 "Method for adopting an orphan I/O port in a redundant storage controller" -- This patent provides a method for a redundant storage controller to take control of the I/O ports of another storage controller, if a failure is detected. The I/O ports are shared between both storage controllers in a modular storage controller architecture that allows the storage controllers to be independently organized as field replaceable units (FRUs), and the shared I/O ports are a separate FRU from the storage controller FRUs. The orphan I/O port invention provides an economical solution to storage controller failure in a modular architecture, where I/O ports are shared between the two storage controllers. Availability is maintained by allowing a failed storage controller to failover to a surviving storage controller, so that the surviving storage controller can acquire the failed controller's I/O ports.

-- U.S. Patent 7,558,981 "Method and apparatus for mirroring customer data and metadata in paired controllers" -- This invention improves write-performance for active-active storage controllers in a redundant controller configuration, by making the mirroring of write-data between redundant controllers more efficient. A portion of customer data is mirrored from a primary controller to a secondary controller in a single message or frame. This is accomplished without requiring a separate message and corresponding interrupt in order to provide the second controller with metadata for the segment of customer data.

"Dot Hill continues to rack up patents that uniquely solve storage challenges and improve the customer's experience," said Jim Kuenzel, senior vice president of Engineering for Dot Hill. "Our patent portfolio is a differentiator that helps allow us to deliver one-of-a-kind technology that makes life easier for all of our go-to-market partners and the businesses they serve."

About Dot Hill

Delivering innovative technology and global support, Dot Hill empowers OEMs and resellers to bring unique storage solutions to market, quickly, easily and cost-effectively. Offering high performance and industry-leading uptime, Dot Hill's RAID technology is the foundation for best-in-class storage solutions offering enterprise-class security, availability and data protection. The company's products are in use today by the world's leading service and equipment providers, common carriers, advanced technology and telecommunications companies as well as government agencies. Dot Hill solutions are certified to meet rigorous industry standards and military specifications, as well as RoHS and WEEE international environmental standards. Headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., Dot Hill has offices and/or representatives in China, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.

For more information, visit us at http://www.dothill.com/.

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Certain statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical fact are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements include the availability and performance of current or future Dot Hill product features based on the patented technology described in this press release, any competitive advantage that the patent technology provides to Dot Hill, any positive effect on Dot Hill's financial results due to the issuance of a Dot Hill patent, and Dot Hill's ability to continue to receive patent protection on current or future technology. The risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include: any unforeseen technological, intellectual property, supply or engineering issues, and changing customer preferences. However, there are many other risks not listed here that may affect the future business of Dot Hill, as well as the forward-looking statements contained herein. To learn about such risks and uncertainties, you should read the risk factors set forth in Dot Hill's public filings with the SEC, including the Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q most recently filed by Dot Hill. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as the date on which they were made. Dot Hill undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect later events or circumstances.

SOURCE Dot Hill Systems Corp.