[November 24, 2008]

COPAN Systems and Promark Technology Sign Distribution Deal, Address Federal Government's Mandate to Reduce Energy Consumption

LONGMONT, Colo. --(Business Wire)--

COPAN Systems, the leader in persistent data storage solutions, and Promark Technology, a premier value added distributor in the United States, today announced an agreement that will extend COPAN's penetration into the government market beyond its 700 percent growth rate since 2006. Together, COPAN and Promark will offer a new approach to the challenge of storing large amounts of fixed, long-term and infrequently accessed "persistent data," which now represents more than 75 percent of all data currently under management. Under the terms of the agreement, Promark will distribute COPAN's solutions to value-added resellers (VARs) in the federal government market.

"The federal government has mandated a 30 percent energy consumption reduction by 2015. We already work with nearly 20 federal agencies and our agreement with Promark will allow us to expand our reach to help government IT meet these aggressive energy reduction mandates," said Will Layton, co-founder and vice-president of COPAN's Federal Division. "COPAN and Promark will partner with Promark's Reseller Channel to help federal agencies evaluate their power usage and compare it with the federal mandates. Based on the results of the assessment, they will recommend a cost-effective architectural solution that addresses these mandates and the growing concerns about the pressure the government's dense data demands place on space, power and cooling resources."

"Our agreement with COPAN demonstrates Promark's commitment to provide its customers products that address the Green IT Initiative," said Todd Hartung, vice president of Promark Technology. "We plan to offer programs that will increase awareness of COPAN's offerings, underscore the value of energy efficiency and provide our business partners with access to cost-effective solutions that will make a measurable impact on their government customers' data storage footprint."

Energy consumption for storage in the data center is becoming a paramount concern for federal government IT executives. The increasing volume of spinning disks is creating a large and growing energy crisis. Data centers are rapidly running out of power and cooling capacity. In fact, it is expected that up to one third of data centers will exceed their power and cooling capacities in the near future.

With COPAN's enhanced MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks) technology platform, government agencies already are recognizing a significant positive impact on their storage system energy efficiency in addition to a cost savings ranging from 75 to 90 percent of energy per unit of storage. From the government spending perspective, the resulting economics of COPAN's solutions are extremely compelling. In the broader market overall, COPAN offers an estimated four-year power and cooling savings of between $9.5 and $13 million, as compared to data stored on traditional disk array solutions.

About Promark Technology

Promark Technology is one of the premier value added distributors in the United States. Promark focuses on data storage and electronic imaging products and solutions. Promark uses a two-tier distribution network; selling to value added resellers (VARs) and systems integrators. Promark supports its distribution channel by offering sales and technical training, trade show and seminar support, leads, and demo equipments. Promark also supports its channel with its two-tier GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract, which enables Promark to authorize its resellers to sell GSA Schedule products to the government. www.promarktech.com

About COPAN Systems

COPAN Systems provides the industry's only purpose-built Persistent Data platform for cost-effective management, storage, access and recovery of Persistent Data for Global 5000 companies challenged with managing the cost and complexities of accelerated data growth. With the only Enterprise MAID OS in the world, COPAN Systems provide operative best practice for the long-term storage, protection and retrieval of persistent data. The Enterprise MAID architecture dramatically reduces power, cooling and floor space costs in the data center. Expanding to well over 8 PB within a single chassis, COPAN Systems delivers unmatched density and scalability for large enterprise environments, including healthcare, financial, government, media and service provider industries. The company is privately held with investments by Austin Ventures, Globespan Capital, Pequot Ventures, Credit Suisse and Battery Ventures. More information is available at http://www.copansystems.com

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