Dot Hill Takes Remote Replication Mainstream, Delivers Complete Suite of Disaster Recovery Applications Standard with Latest AssuredSAN Storage Systems Lineup

LONGMONT, Colo., March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: HILL), a provider of world-class storage solutions and software for OEMs, open storage partners and system integrators, today expanded its award-winning channel program with the introduction of its next-generation AssuredSAN™ disk-to-disk data protection appliances targeted at small-to-medium businesses (SMBs).

The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series, based on the company's new 3000 Series storage platform announced in February, features a suite of disaster recovery applications, including Dot Hill's new AssuredRemote™ remote replication software. By including robust volume copy, snapshot and remote replication as standard in the AssuredSAN 3000 Series, Dot Hill makes affordable, comprehensive disaster recovery solutions available to the entry level space through its growing base of channel partners.

The latest addition to Dot Hill's powerful suite of advanced data management offerings, Dot Hill AssuredRemote is completely integrated into Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 storage appliances, providing easy-to-use, remote office data protection and eliminating the need for expensive, third party, host-based software. The combination of AssuredSnap™ snapshot, AssuredCopy™ volume copy, and AssuredRemote functionality, together in the AssuredSAN 3000 line, enables Dot Hill channel partners to deliver a complete disaster recovery offering for SMBs. This low maintenance, cost-effective approach to remote data protection, recovery, and migration, significantly reduces the burden of meeting modern data retention policies and compliance testing associated with government regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA acts.

With embedded-in-the-array remote replication of snapshot volumes, AssuredRemote offloads backup operations from critical application servers, thereby creating little to no impact to production servers by asynchronously copying and synchronizing data for up to 16 volumes simultaneously, directly between two AssuredSAN 3000R appliances via the local storage area network (SAN) or wide area networks (WANs). Replication can operate via the Fibre Channel ports and/or the iSCSI ports in the case of the dual protocol AssuredSAN 3900 models, and fully supports high-availability failover using dual controllers.

"The arrival of the AssuredSAN 3000 Series gives us an incredible opportunity to bolster our professional services offerings," said Howie Evans, vice president of Dallas Digital Services. "By introducing affordable, turnkey data protection solutions into the SMB space, Dot Hill presents us with new opportunities to enhance this additional revenue stream."

"Building on the success of Dot Hill's AssuredSAN 2000 Series, the addition of enhanced snapshot and AssuredRemote features to the new AssuredSAN 3000 Series helps to create a reliable disaster recovery solution at a competitive price point. The new 8Gb Fibre Channel connectivity and an option for multiprotocol Fibre Channel and iSCSI hosts within the same solution will also put this system at the forefront of the industry," states Paul Hickingbotham, solutions manager at Hammer plc.

"The response to our AssuredSAN launch in September was extremely positive," said David Zimmer, vice president of worldwide channel sales and marketing, Dot Hill. "Customers told us that they would like to see more data protection features such as AssuredSnap and AssuredCopy in future-generation products. The AssuredSAN 3000 Series is the result; by adding AssuredRemote to our new 8Gb Fibre Channel-based 3000 Series architecture, we're providing SMB customers with affordable, midrange-featured data protection appliances."

The AssuredSAN 3000 Series bolsters the award-winning Dot Hill Authorized Partner Program by arming Dot Hill channel partners with a broad portfolio of storage solutions, extended warranties and professional services opportunities. Dot Hill provides extensive resources, tools and support to enable channel partners' success, including lead generation, marketing assistance, opportunity registration discounts, and in-field sales support.  Backed by a three-year warranty, Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series storage systems are available in a wide variety of configurations including AssuredSAN "R" models with AssuredRemote, AssuredSnap and AssuredCopy; AssuredSAN "S" models with AssuredSnap and AssuredCopy; and AssuredSAN "C" base models with free 60-day trial access to data protection software. Flagship configurations include:

• AssuredSAN 3930R Hybrid 8Gb Fibre Channel/iSCSI with 12 3.5-inch disk drives
• AssuredSAN 3920R Hybrid 8Gb Fibre Channel/iSCSI with 24 2.5-inch disk drives
• AssuredSAN 3730R 8Gb Fibre Channel with 12 3.5-inch disk drives
• AssuredSAN 3720R 8Gb Fibre Channel with 24 2.5-inch disk drives

Additional Information and Availability

The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series is available through Dot Hill channel partners now. List prices are expected to start at $20,200 for a dual controller Fibre Channel system fully populated with 500GB SATA drives.

For more details about Dot Hill's 3000 Series architecture, visit www.dothill.com/3000series. For more information on Dot Hill AssuredSAN disaster recovery solutions, visit: http://www.dothill.com/products/san-arrays/.

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 Longmont, Colo., Dot Hill has offices and/or representatives in China, Germany, Israel, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.

For more information, visit us at 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 the statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding: the size and timing of orders for Dot Hill's new AssuredSAN 3000 Series products; any improvement in Dot Hill's financial results due to the availability of the new products; the benefits and cost savings provided by the AssuredSAN 3000 series; the performance of the AssuredSAN 3000 Series in particular environments; and the dates and continued availability of the AssuredSAN 3000 Series. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. The risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include: the fact that no Dot Hill customer has committed to any mandatory minimum purchase requirements for the AssuredSAN 3000 series; that series is new and therefore Dot Hill has limited experience with it both technologically and with respect to market acceptance; changing customer preferences in the open systems computing market; and unforeseen supply, technological, intellectual property or engineering issues. 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 the company'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 of the date on which they were made. Dot Hill undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

SOURCE Dot Hill Systems Corp.