Emulex Open Source Driver Incorporated into Linux 2.6 Kernel

1 January 1970

Emulex Corporation (NYSE:ELX - News), the industry's preeminent source for a broad range of advanced storage networking infrastructure solutions, today announced that its latest Fibre Channel host bus adapter driver version 8.0 is now part of the Linux ``upstream'' kernel published by the Linux community, effective with kernel version 2.6.12-rc3. As a result, Emulex customers adopting Linux-based storage solutions may utilize the Emulex kernel contributions across any distribution, complementing the Emulex driver support already included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Flag Data Center.

``Emulex is dedicated to working closely with the open source community, and the acceptance of our 8.0 driver into the Linux 2.6 kernel is additional evidence of that commitment,'' said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing, Emulex Corp. ``Our customers are investigating Linux-driven solutions as part of their overall storage strategies and we will continue to deliver innovative solutions to support those efforts.''

Driver inclusion in the kernel is the result of a close cooperation between Emulex and the Linux SCSI maintainers that started in 2003 with the initial publication of an Emulex ``Open Source'' driver, and intensified in the past months with recent community work, including Emulex contributions to the kernel. Major architectural changes in the Linux SCSI mid-layer and the driver itself have been designed for consistent handling of remote storage connectivity across vendors and technologies. In addition to delivering the 8.0 driver, the Emulex contribution to the 2.6 kernel also includes error-handling and management enhancements, with more code contributions under development.

The robust features of Emulex's LightPulse HBAs provide the flexibility and broad interoperability needed for highly scalable heterogeneous SANs. Emulex solutions include a unique firmware architecture that is fully software compatible with previous generations of the company's HBAs.

About Emulex

Emulex Corporation is the industry's preeminent source for a broad range of advanced storage networking infrastructure solutions spanning host bus adapters, embedded storage switches, I/O controllers and SAN Storage Switches. Emulex ranked number 16 in the Deloitte 2004 Technology Fast 50 and most recently received recognition as one of Forbes 200 Best Small Companies.

The world's leading server and storage providers rely on Emulex HBAs, embedded storage switching and I/O controller products to build reliable, scalable and high performance storage solutions. The Emulex award-winning product families, including its LightPulse(r) HBAs and InSpeed(tm) embedded storage switching products, are based on internally developed ASIC, firmware and software technologies, and offer customers high performance, scalability, flexibility and reduced total cost of ownership. The company's products have been selected by the world's leading server and storage providers, including Dell, EMC, Fujitsu Ltd., Fujitsu Siemens, Bull, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, NEC, Network Appliance, Quantum Corp., StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Xyratex. In addition, Emulex includes industry leaders Brocade, Computer Associates, Intel, McDATA, Microsoft and VERITAS among its strategic partners. Corporate headquarters are located in Costa Mesa, California. News releases and other information about Emulex Corporation are available at http://www.emulex.com

EMULEX -- We network storage

``Safe Harbor'' Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Those factors include the rapidly changing nature of technology, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and enhancements by competitors; fluctuation in the growth of Fibre Channel and IP markets; changes in economic conditions or changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; fluctuations or delays in customer orders; the highly competitive nature of the markets for Emulex's products; Emulex's ability to gain market acceptance for its products; the company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the company's reliance on third-party suppliers. These and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are also discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its recent filings on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

Contact:
Emulex Corporation
Robin Austin, Sr. Manager, Public Relations
(714) 513-8152
robin.austin@emulex.com

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Source: Emulex Corporation