Leading Analyst Firm Reports That Astute Networks' Flash VM Storage Appliance El iminates Virtual Machine I/O Performance

Barriers for Virtual Server and Virtual Desktop Environments Taneja Group Paper Details How Astutes ViSX Solution Removes Storage I/O and Netw ork I/O Constraints to Address the Needs of Virtual Server Managers San Diego, CA, September 12, 2012 -- Astute NetworksTM, Inc., the leading provid er of performance storage for virtual machines, today announced that its ViSX G4 Flash VM storage appliance has been featured in the Taneja Group report, Acceler ating I/O-Intensive Virtualized Applications. The Taneja Group profile outlines t he I/O performance constraints faced in most virtual environments and how ViSX a ccelerates virtualized application performance, increases VM density, and dramat ically increases the number of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) users. Key to the ready adoption of the Astutes ViSX VM storage appliances is that it dro ps seamlessly into an existing virtual infrastructure, said the Taneja Group anal ysts in the report. ViSX is a non-disruptive, high-performance flash solution tha t avoids forklift upgrades, ripping and replacing, or otherwise re-architecting production environments. Astute has deliberately aimed at Networked Flash as the most cost-effective way to leverage flash technology because it puts the techno logy in the right place on the network - to be most effectively shared by all VM s across all hosts while preserving current data protection and storage manageme nt practices. With a focus on tight hypervisor integration, purpose-built ViSX s olves the virtual I/O performance constraint in a matter of minutes with almost no impact on the virtual server administrator. The Taneja Group report explores the range of mixed results for flash optimizatio ns, including flash in the server, flash in the storage array, and flash in the n etwork. The report concludes that the ideal solution to minimize virtual infrast ructure disruption is networked flash, the concept of enabling high-performance I/ O for virtual environments by intelligently leveraging a shared flash appliance over common Ethernet iSCSI storage networks. ViSX employs a networked flash arch itecture to maximize the utilization and performance of flash as shared storage while completely optimizing both TCP and iSCSI traffic. The report explains that using this architecture, ViSX VM storage appliances offer the following advanta ges: Shared high-performance storage with comprehensive data protection that en ables virtualization of demanding I/O intensive applications ency Maximizes flash ROI with an optimal design for both performance and effici

Deploys in minutes without disruption to server operations, existing capac ity storage, or virtual server admin management processes ViSX flash-based VM storage appliances are purpose-built to deliver unprecedente d random IOPS performance and unprecedented IOPS per dollar value, helping to un leash the full potential of virtualized datacenters. The Networked Flash architec ture of ViSX combines ultra-reliable eMLC Flash solid state storage modules with Astutes own custom designed high-performance, 10/1GbE DataPump Engine network pro tocol processor that completely offloads and dramatically accelerates network (T CP) & storage (iSCSI) protocol processing. Together, they eliminate all of the c ritical I/O bottlenecks that can affect virtualized applications. ViSX appliance s also support integrated in-line de-duplication to significantly increase overa ll effective capacity. Unlike other traditional and flash storage systems, ViSX de-duplication technology has no impact on performance. Because of features like the custom DataPump Engine and high-performance de-dupe,

many other flash solutions will be hard pressed to match the IOPS/$ of ViSX G4, concluded the Taneja Group report. With benefits like increased total VM density, improved performance for all I/O constrained VMs [by removing contention for sh ared traditional storage], and the ability to deploy in minutes factored in, ViS X G4 has an obvious and immediate ROI justification. We set out day one to fully leverage our patented technology into a family of pur pose-built appliances that eliminate known problems and pain points experienced by a majority of organizations that have virtualized their infrastructure. Be it added performance for virtualized servers and applications, or removing the per formance and cost obstacles holding back wide deployment of VDI, we are pleased that the Taneja Group report acknowledges that ViSX has succeeded in its intende d purpose, said Steve Topper, CEO of Astute Networks. To download the full Taneja Group Product Profile, please visit: http://astuten etworks.com/pages/resources/taneja-group-product-profile-astute-visxg4.pdf Tweet this: @tanejagroup reports that @astutenetworks accelerates I/O-intensive virtualized applications - http://bit.ly/PnjjPH Follow Astute on Twitter at http://twitter.com/astutenetworks About Astute Networks Astute Networks is the leading provider of high-performance flash-based virtual machine storage appliances. The companys ViSXTM family of Networked Flash applian ces, powered by its patented DataPump Engine,overcome known virtualization perfor mance limitations by non-disruptively delivering shared performance to all virtu al machines, across all hosts, over pervasively deployed Ethernet networks. With ViSX, IT organizations now have the power to confidently virtualize and deploy business-critical applications while eliminating costly over-provisioning of IT infrastructure. ViSX is available through the companys network of authorized chan nel partners. For more information, visit www.astutenetworks.com. Astute Networks, Networked Performance flash, ViSX G4, DataPump Engine, and Flas hWRX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Astute Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Contact : Sabrina Sanchez The Ventana Group for Astute Networks Chantilly, VA (925) 785-3014 sabrina.sanchez@ventanapr.com http://www.theventanagroup.com