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BlueArc Teams With Intel and CommuniGate Systems to Set New Mail Server Performance Record

New Record Outpaces Prior Submissions by 67 Percent

BlueArc® Corporation, provider of the world’s highest performance, most scalable network storage systems, today announced that the company’s Titan storage system, in combination with Intel® (NASDAQ: INTC) Xeon-powered CommuniGate servers, has achieved a new world record result for SPECmail® message capacity and performance. BlueArc’s Titan sustained a performance level of 12,500 SPECmail messages per minute, or the equivalent of two and a half million SPECmail users, sending 30 million e-mail messages per day.

High-performance storage solutions are mission critical for ISPs, Broadband providers, and enterprises with strenuous e-mail environments, particularly as worldwide e-mail traffic continues to rise. According to a recent study from The Radicati Group, e-mail traffic increased 35 percent in 2004, to a level of 76.8 billion messages per day. Of this e-mail traffic, approximately 83 percent was corporate e-mail.

SPECmail is a standardized benchmark developed by messaging vendors and research organizations that measures mail server performance using a real-world workload. The SPECmail benchmark was achieved utilizing BlueArc’s Titan system, connected to front-end and back-end Intel Xeon-based CommuniGate Pro servers. SPEC or Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation, also sets the SPECsfs® benchmark, where Titan set a record last fall for single system file server throughput and response times.

"BlueArc's Titan has raised the bar on performance and capacity for network storage," said Mike Gustafson, President and CEO for BlueArc Corporation. "Titan is a leader when it comes to supporting the world's most demanding storage requirements as our customers' storage demands grow, and as proven, nothing else in the market comes close to matching the performance of the Titan product today. Based on its unique architecture and scalability, we expect to maintain this lead to the benefit of our customers and ISP clients across the world."

"Intel, working with companies like BlueArc and CommuniGate Systems, are committed to delivering leading-edge performance that supports the world’s most taxing e-mail environments," said Dan Johnson, Strategic Relationship Manager, for Intel Corporation. "We are pleased to continue playing a leading role in delivering innovation for customers."

"CommuniGate Systems is excited to be a part of this new world record for performance and capacity of message storage and retrieval," said Thom O’Connor, Director of Product Architecture, for CommuniGate Systems. "The combination of BlueArc’s Titan and the CommuniGate Pro Real-Time Application Server delivers a complete solution for voice and data communication in the ISP, Broadband and Telcom markets by offering the most features, reliability, and scalability on the market."

BlueArc’s Titan storage system is backed by a unique hardware-accelerated architecture that allows customers to scale their storage systems far beyond any other servers available on the market today. Titan allows a single file system to grow up to 256 terabytes and delivers throughput of up to 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps). The architecture adapts to changing application or capacity needs, thus simplifying management, accelerating productivity and protecting a customer’s long-term investment.

"For more than three years, Knology has relied on BlueArc to provide uncompromising server performance and capacity, enabling us to provide e-mail access and hosting for more than 100,000 broadband customers with a single Titan system," said Bradley Frye, Senior Manager of Network Data Operations, for Knology, a leading provider of interactive communications and entertainment services in the Southeast United States. "With Titan at the core of our service offering, we are prepared for continued rapid growth, and do not see service degradation during peak user load."

SPEC® and the benchmark name SPECmail® are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Competitive benchmark results stated above reflect results published on www.spec.org as of August 15, 2005. The comparison presented above is based on Standard Performance Evaluation Corp.'s benchmark that measures a system's ability to act as a mail server servicing email requests, based on the Internet standard protocols SMTP and POP3. For the latest SPECmail® benchmark results, visit http://www.spec.org/mail2001.

For more details about the SPECmail benchmark and a current list of validated results, please visit www.spec.org/mail2001/results/mail2001.html.

About BlueArc

BlueArc® Corporation changes the economics of network storage by helping customers manage more information with less effort. BlueArc’s storage systems enable organizations to maximize performance and reduce operating costs through the movement of software functions into programmable hardware. Since 1998, BlueArc has provided scalable and reliable products, services and solutions to help enterprises achieve unmatched productivity and profitability from their data. The company’s headquarters are in San Jose, California with UK operations based in Bracknell, England. More information on BlueArc is available on the Internet at www.bluearc.com.

About Intel

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

About CommuniGate Systems

Since 1991, our company’s mission is to create the most scalable, feature-rich communication solutions based on open standards. Headquartered in Mill Valley, California, CommuniGate Systems has over 9000 customers worldwide, ranging from Enterprises and Universities to the largest Telco and global ISPs. Over 75 million people rely on our products for their electronic communication needs.

The company flagship product -- the CommuniGate Pro communication server -- has become the acknowledged technology leader in e-mail messaging and collaboration, running on more than 30 major computer platforms. Its unsurpassed scalability and feature set have won more awards than any other messaging solution on the market today. These days, CommuniGate Systems brings its unique field-proven Dynamic Cluster technology to the emerging VoIP market, providing the first fully integrated, carrier-grade solution for IP Centrex, hosted PBX, and Session Border Controllers.

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