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Alliance Strengthens Relationship with Microsoft and Improves Interoperability and Performance for End Users: Emulex Corporation today announced it has joined the Interop Vendor Alliance, a community of software and hardware vendors working to enhance interoperability with Microsoft systems. Emulex values its partnership with Microsoft, including participation in the Microsoft Simple SAN program. Joining the Interop Vendor Alliance furthers its efforts to help ensure that Emulex SAN connectivity solutions are optimized for use in Microsoft environments. By participating in the Interop Vendor Alliance, Emulex will continue to pursue deployment of robust SAN solutions that are integrated and interoperable with Microsoft technologies for simplified installation and management. "We are pleased to welcome Emulex to the Interop Vendor Alliance," said Bruce Burns, senior director, strategic relations group, Microsoft. "We look forward to working with Emulex in the alliance to solve customer problems by testing and validating storage solutions for heterogeneous environments." The Interop Vendor Alliance is designed to better connect people, data, and diverse systems through enhanced interoperability with Microsoft technology. The organization serves as a collaborative forum for developing and sharing common technology models, facilities scenario-based testing of multivendor solutions, and works to communicate additional best practices to users. Additional information about the Interop Vendor Alliance can be found at its Web site. "Emulex is committed to working with Microsoft to continue simplifying the management of HBAs within Microsoft environments," said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing, Emulex Corporation. "Emulex has been working closely with Microsoft since the deployment of Windows NT operating system and this year, Emulex announced the availability of a new management tool, VMPilot, which was developed to allow Microsoft server virtualization customers to virtualize their connection to networked storage using the industry-standard N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV). This translates into tremendous time- and cost-savings by enabling virtual machine migration without reconfiguring storage or copying files" Emulex is also a Microsoft Gold Certified partner with HBAs that support Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, and Windows NT operating systems. The Microsoft Storport driver, coupled with the Emulex Storport miniport HBA driver, helps solution providers deliver optimal SAN performance and greater storage resource manageability. Emulex HBAs also support Windows technologies, including Virtual Disk Service (VDS), Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), Multi-Path I/O (MPIO), and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and include features that increase performance and scalability in Windows SQL Server and Exchange Server environments along with an extensive set of Windows-based installation and management solutions including HBAnyware, AutoPilot Installer, EZPilot and the award-winning VMPilot. Emulex has also received the "Compatible with Simple SAN for Windows Server 2003" designation for its easy-to-use SAN solutions. In addition, Emulex HBAs are fully tested and qualified to display the Designed for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 logo and for inclusion on the Windows Server Catalog. Emulex LightPulse 4Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs are also incorporated into Microsoft Technology Centers worldwide, where Microsoft customers can explore a wide variety of options for easily and reliably connecting servers to 4Gb/s SAN architectures. To learn more about Emulex LightPulse 4Gb/s Fibre Channel HBAs visit its Web site.