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Scali, a leader in high performance clustering solutions, today announced a series of investments to solidify its US market position and accelerate penetration of the US Linux clustering market. The company has strengthened its US operations through a number of initiatives including the appointment of James C. Biggs as Executive Vice President (EVP) and General Manager, Americas. Scali has deepened its US presence through the opening of US Headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts, and has expanded its US sales and professional services teams. Scali is now poised to take advantage of the consistent US growth it is experiencing in the enterprise and high performance clustering markets. James, who brings over 20 years’ industry experience to the role, is spearheading Scali’s ambitious US expansion plans from the Boston area office and will report to Bjørn Skare, Scali President and CEO. Before joining Scali, James held senior sales and management positions at several infrastructure and enterprise software companies, where he earned a reputation for successfully and aggressively accelerating US revenue and market share. Most recently he was Senior VP at Fast Search and Transfer where he was responsible for developing and leading channel and government strategies that resulted in significant gains in new business, market share, and revenue performance. Previously, James worked for Opuswave, a Siemens company, where he lead the global sales strategy resulting in 150% revenue increase. Prior to that, James held senior positions at Banyan and Digital Equipment Corporation. “In Q3 2004, 50% of our global revenues came from the US Linux clustering market and this is a trend we expect to continue. We are pleased that James has joined the team to lead Scali’s uncompromising and ambitious US expansion plans which will help our partners and customers achieve their goals,” commented Bjørn Skare. “James has a proven ability to generate rapid growth while managing data center-focused sales, marketing and services teams and he brings a unique blend of business development and operational skills to the Scali management team.” “Investment in the US operations is an essential part of our strategy to accelerate penetration of the US market and to move into related market segments,” said James Biggs. “With our expanded US capabilities, we can extend our strategic partnerships with Dell, HP, IBM and Novell as well as build new relationships with other hardware and software vendors. I’ve joined Scali at an exciting time and am looking forward to growing our leadership in the US market and building our global market presence.” By consolidating its regional offices to new US Headquarters in the Boston area, Scali is aggressively expanding its US presence, preparing itself for further growth and ensuring it remains close to its strategic partners - Dell, HP, IBM and Novell. The management, marketing and sales teams will operate from Boston while Scali’s engineering and R&D will remain in Norway. Thomas VanAntwerp, Director of Sales, Americas, will relocate to Boston and continue to develop US penetration and ensure key partnerships are fully supported. Steffen Persvold, Technical Director, Americas, will also relocate to Boston and will continue to lead Scali Americas’ technical support and professional services team. Ken Bekampis, Account Executive for North America, is a new addition to the US team and brings with him a rich background of over 8 years of successful sales and channel partner management, with high-tech companies. Stephen Gray, who brings outstanding technology and market knowledge, has joined Scali as Technical Account Manager and will be based in Texas.