Data Compression Board accelerates VTL back-up.

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Hifn Accelerates VTL Back-up and Compresses Data

New 'Mini' Board Provides Fast Compression for 1U & 2U Appliances LOS GATOS, Calif., Oct. 30 -- Network- and storage-security market leader Hifn(TM) (NASDAQ:HIFN), announced today the new VTL Express Mini data compression board for use in Virtual Tape Libraries (VTLs). Designed to protect information at rest, the VTL Express Mini allows deployment in a wide variety of industry-standard chassis and enclosures -- including 1U and 2U appliances. "Disk-based backup systems, such as VTLs, reduce the risk of enterprise data loss by providing high bandwidth, reliable, stable back-up and restore windows," notes Russell Dietz, Chief Technology Officer of Hifn. Dietz adds, "Hifn's proven compression technology will enable storage vendors to deliver the next evolution of cost/performance benefits to their customers. The ability to reduce streaming backup data by 50% enables faster, denser, more cost-effective VTL system products." The VTL Express Mini data compression board provides 600 MByte per second compression and decompression on a PCIe half-height card. Industry-standard LZS compression enables the VTL Express Mini to reduce backup windows by 50%, double the storage capacity of VTL appliances, and achieve improved network performance with fewer RAID drives. Additionally, the VTL Express Mini offers high-assurance features for backup, such as record CRC and decompress-after- compress verification for 100% record accuracy, as well as input/output bus CRC between components, for total data transfer protection. "Since our full-height VTL Express card introduction a year ago, Hifn continues to do for VTL what VTLs do for backup; that is, enhance performance, integrate easily, and conform to standards," added Robert Friend, director of product marketing at Hifn. "The new half-height card extends our proven compression acceleration technology to a wider range of VTL appliances. We now offer OEM customers two ready-made VTL compression solutions, enabling them to get to market quickly with a best-of-breed feature set." Utilizing the same industry-standard LZS compression algorithm already deployed on over 100 million tapes, the VTL Express Mini uses two Hifn 9630 data compression processors with load-balancing, bus-mastering DMA, and a 4-lane PCI Express bus. The board also offers a unique "enhanced" LZS (eLZS) technology, which eliminates data expansion and guarantees a 1:1 minimum compression ratio. Hifn provides a Linux driver and example software to enable rapid integration and quick time to market. Hifn's software also optimizes the system interface to the VTL Express Mini compression resource. Availability and Price The half-height VTL Express Mini board, full-height VTL Express board and their related host Software Developer Kit are available now. The VTL Express Mini is priced at $1,099 and the VTL Express is priced at $1,299 in volume quantities. OEM Customers interested in evaluating the compression benefits of the VTL Express Mini or VTL Express should contact the Hifn sales department or a local representative to schedule a demonstration. About Hifn Hifn combines security, compression, content search, and flow classification technology into solutions for networking, security and storage suppliers. Hifn's solutions are deployed in virtually all market-leading networking and security products. Founded in 1996, Hifn is headquartered in Los Gatos, California. For more information on Hifn solutions, please visit: www.hifn.com/ . NOTE: Hi/fn(R) is a registered trademark of hi/fn, inc. Hifn is a trademark of hi/fn, inc. CONTACT: Corporate Communications of Hifn, Inc., +1-408-399-3520, or press@hifn.com