HILL (MM)

Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq:HILL), a trusted supplier of innovative enterprise-class storage systems, today announced availability of a new Competitive Advantage report published by DCIG entitled, "Dot Hill AssuredSAN® 4004 Tops Nimble Storage CS500 in Real-time Data Center Efficiencies, Flexible Multi-Protocol Support and an Enterprise-ready Platform." Authored by Chuck Cook, DCIG analyst, the report analyzes the architectural designs and key features of hybrid storage solutions from Dot Hill and Nimble and concluded that the AssuredSAN 4004 is an exceptional platform.

Offering up to 84TB of storage capacity per rack unit, the Dot Hill AssuredSAN 4004 with RealStor™ offers 3.5X the storage density of the Nimble Storage CS500, which is limited to 24TB of raw storage capacity per rack unit.

"The versatility of the AssuredSAN 4004 allows it to fit in diverse environments while optimizing performance for business-critical applications," said Cook. "Superior data center efficiency, flexible protocol support and enterprise-ready features combine to make the Dot Hill AssuredSAN 4004 platform a better fit than the Nimble Storage CS500 for many enterprise deployments."

"This DCIG Competitive Advantage report validates what we've seen in our labs and in the field," said Bill Wuertz, senior vice president, products and solutions, Dot Hill. "Dot Hill's unique RealStor storage operating system stands alone in its ability to provide true autonomic, real-time data movement to accelerate storage operations delivering data where customers need it, when they need it—in real time. Real time matters."

Greater Efficiency

The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 4004 goes beyond the CS500's read caching, and utilizes flash for multiple functions including application as a high performance storage tier, along with read caching; and packs 3.5X the raw data into each rack unit. "Unlike Nimble Storage, network port types can easily be changed by replacing the SFPs provided by Dot Hill," the report says.

Enterprise-Ready

According to the report, the AssuredSAN's active-active controller configuration is an enterprise expectation. With active-active controllers, data requests are executed through concurrent access to all logical volumes. If one controller goes offline, the remaining controller services requests without interruption. "This architecture efficiently utilizes all of the system resources (CPU, memory and ports). With Nimble's active-standby configuration, half of its resources sit idle," the report states.

More Flexibility

Dot Hill's AssuredSAN 4004 provides concurrent iSCSI and Fibre Channel connectivity for block storage. "In contrast, the Nimble Storage CS500 is a block-only storage array supporting iSCSI or Fibre Channel but not concurrently," notes DCIG. "The AssuredSAN 4004's multi-protocol capability means the AssuredSAN 4004 can fit into a broader range of data center infrastructures and provide storage for a broader range of applications."

About Dot Hill RealStor

RealStor is Dot Hill's next-generation storage operating system that delivers simple, smart, and efficient storage management services. The AssuredSAN 4004 with RealStor utilizes flash to achieve up to 100,000 I/Os per second (IOPs). Included standard with powerful Dot Hill AssuredSAN 4000 Series hybrid storage solutions, RealStor fuels a powerful set of autonomic efficiencies including:

• RealCache™ - SSD caching
• RealTier™ - SSD and HDD tiering in real-time
• RealThin™ - thin provisioning
• RealSnap™ - zero-impact snapshots
• RealQuick™ - rapid RAID rebuilds
• RealPool™ - autonomic storage resource pooling

A new and improved management interface streamlines deployment and simplifies routine storage configuration and management tasks.

About Dot Hill AssuredSAN 4004 Hybrid Arrays

Dot Hill AssuredSAN 4004 hybrid arrays maximize capacity and performance while keeping costs at a minimum. Built on Dot Hill's ninth-generation RAID stack, Dot Hill 4004 storage systems deliver exceptional performance for sequential workloads. All highly reliable AssuredSAN systems deliver proven 99.999 percent availability and feature platinum-rated power supplies. With fully redundant and hot-swappable components, Dot Hill AssuredSAN storage solutions provide easy serviceability, resulting in lower support costs throughout the life of the product. Backed by a 36-month "bumper-to-bumper" warranty, AssuredSAN storage solutions are available with the latest high-bandwidth interfaces, including 12Gb SAS, 16Gb Fibre Channel, 10Gb iSCSI or dual personality 16Gb Fibre Channel/10Gb iSCSI.

About DCIG

DCIG empowers the IT industry with actionable analysis that equips individuals within organizations to conduct technology assessments. DCIG delivers informed, insightful, third party analysis and commentary on IT technology. DCIG independently develops and licenses access to DCIG Buyer's Guides and the DCIG Analysis Suite. It also develops sponsored content in the form of blog entries, customer validations, competitive advantage reports, executive white papers, special reports and white papers. More information is available at www.dcig.com.

About Dot Hill

Leveraging its proprietary Assured family of storage solutions, Dot Hill solves many of today's most challenging storage problems – helping IT to improve performance, increase availability, simplify operations, and reduce costs. Dot Hill's solutions combine breakthrough software with the industry's most flexible and extensive hardware platform and automated management to deliver best-in-class solutions. Headquartered in Longmont, Colo., Dot Hill has offices and/or representatives in China, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

For more information, visit us at www.dothill.com.

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Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties that Dot Hill may face, please consult the Company's most recent Forms 10-Q and 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Dot Hill undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. Dot Hill is not responsible for statements made by third parties, including DCIG.

CONTACT: Steve Sturgeon
         Lutz PR (for Dot Hill Systems)
         858-472-5669
         steve@lutzpr.com
         
         Company Contact:
         Ruth Macdonald
         Dot Hill Systems
         303-845-3364
         ruth.macdonald@dothill.com