QLogic Confirms Market Readiness of FCoE Products At FCIA Plugfest

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Sep 22, 2008 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- QLGC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq:QLGC), a leading supplier of high performance network infrastructure solutions, today announced successful testing of its 8000 Series converged network adapters (CNAs) at the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA)-sponsored plugfest, conducted at the University of New Hampshire's Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL) last week. The QLogic 8000 Series, the world's first commercially available FCoE CNAs, successfully interoperate with all Fibre Channel and FCoE products provided by other industry-leading plugfest participants. With support from the FCIA as well as major server, storage and networking companies, FCoE products are becoming available in the marketplace and adoption is expected to be swift. QLogic FCoE CNAs consolidate data and storage networking traffic onto a single 10GbE converged network adapter, resulting in significant cost savings for customers while preserving their existing investments in Fibre Channel storage and tools.

"The FCIA plugfest further confirms what we learned in June at the QLogic FCoE Test Drive. FCIA plugfest participants found that their hardware products and software applications easily recognized Fibre Channel and FCoE devices because the FCoE network appeared to their products as simply another Fibre Channel network," said Amit Vashi, vice president of marketing, QLogic Host Solutions Group. "We expect to see live end user deployment of FCoE solutions from industry leaders in 2009."

"This is the first time that many of the industry's major server, storage and networking vendors have entered into formal interoperability testing under the FCIA and UNH," said Chris Lyon, executive director of the FCIA. "Their participation in the FCIA plugfest demonstrates a strong commitment to the rapid development and release of FCoE products. Customers stand to benefit greatly from the ability to easily run their network and storage traffic over a single, 10GbE converged fabric that seamlessly interoperates with their existing Fibre Channel devices."

Fibre Channel over Ethernet -- Unifying Data and Storage Networks

FCoE, the standard for transporting Fibre Channel frames over Ethernet, is designed to make converged networks possible for data centers. With converged networks now on the way to becoming a reality, servers will no longer require separate interfaces for data and storage networking. IT professionals can increase functionality while reducing cost and complexity by using a single set of cables and switches.

QLogic 8000 Series CNAs -- Make Your Converged Network Fly

The QLogic(r) 8000 Series is a family of converged network adapters designed for next-generation, virtualized and unified data centers with powerful multi-processor, multi-core servers. QLogic 8000 Series CNAs are optimized for both data and storage (FCoE) networking virtualization with fierce 10GbE performance to handle large numbers of virtual machines. QLogic 8000 Series CNAs also reduce data center total cost of ownership (TCO) by enabling consolidation of data and storage networking onto a single adapter to reduce cabling, power and cooling. By using the same industry standard SAN services and QLogic driver architecture already deployed with the largest installed base of Fibre Channel HBAs in the world, the QLogic 8000 Series CNAs completely protect customer investments in their existing Fibre Channel SANs.

About QLogic

QLogic is a leading supplier of high performance network infrastructure solutions, which include the controller chips, host adapters and fabric switches that are the backbone of storage networks for most Global 2000 corporations. The company delivers a broad and diverse portfolio of products that includes Fibre Channel adapters, blade server embedded Fibre Channel switches, Fibre Channel stackable switches, iSCSI adapters and iSCSI routers. The company is also a leading supplier of InfiniBand switches and InfiniBand host channel adapters for the emerging high performance computing market. QLogic products are delivered to small-to-medium businesses and large enterprises around the world via its channel partner community. QLogic products are also powering solutions from leading companies such as Cisco, Dell, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, NetApp and Sun Microsystems. QLogic is a member of the S&P 500 Index.

Disclaimer -- Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains statements relating to future results of the company (including certain beliefs and projections regarding business trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements. The company advises readers that these potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: potential fluctuations in operating results; gross margins that may vary over time; revenues may be affected by changes in IT spending levels; the stock price of the company may be volatile; the company's dependence on the storage area network market; potential adverse effects of server virtualization technology on the company's business; potential adverse effects of increased market acceptance of blade servers; the ability to maintain and gain market or industry acceptance of the company's products; the company's dependence on a limited number of customers; seasonal fluctuations and uneven sales patterns in orders from customers; the company's ability to compete effectively with other companies; declining average unit sales prices of comparable products; a reduction in sales efforts by current distributors; dependence on sole source and limited source suppliers; the company's dependence on relationships with certain silicon chip suppliers; declines in the market value of the company's marketable securities; the complexity of the company's products; sales fluctuations arising from customer transitions to new products; environmental compliance costs; international economic, regulatory, political and other risks; uncertain benefits from strategic business combinations; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies; the ability to protect proprietary rights; the ability to satisfactorily resolve any infringement claims; reliance on third party technology; the use of "open source" software in the company's products; changes in the company's tax provisions or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of its income tax returns; computer viruses and other tampering with the company's computer systems; and facilities of the company and its suppliers and customers are located in areas subject to natural disasters.

More detailed information on these and additional factors which could affect the company's operating and financial results are described in the company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed, or to be filed, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company urges all interested parties to read these reports to gain a better understanding of the business and other risks that the company faces. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and the company does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

QLogic and the QLogic logo are registered trademarks of QLogic Corporation. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of the companies with which they are associated.

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SOURCE: QLogic Corp.

QLogic Corporation Editor's Contact: Robin Austin 949/389-6865 robin.austin@qlogic.com Investor's Contact: Jeanie Herbert 949/389-6343 jeanie.herbert@qlogic.com

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