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nStor nTertains nTicement: Page 2 of 2

nStor’s strength in the past has been disk systems aimed at small businesses and departmental-level applications. It’s also up to its neck in what the industry refers to as “enclosure management” -- basically, the controllers and components built into a storage system that send out alerts when they aren't quite up to snuff. Although a bit arcane, this technology is becoming increasingly important as even small storage systems become more critical in business operations. As these systems grow in importance, so do high-availability features such as those provided by enclosure-management technologies.

More recently, nStor has begun to sell bundled storage area network (SAN) configurations including the SANStor that consists of nStor’s storage subsystems, QLogic Corp.’s (Nasdaq: QLGC) SANBox Fibre Channel switches and 2200 series host bus adapters, and Hewlett-Packard Co.’s (NYSE: HWP) SAN Manager software. According to Makmann, more bundled offerings like this are on the way.

In other words, nStor should be riding the storage networking wave, not dragging along the ocean floor.

Under Makmann things may begin to pick up. He’s spent 30 years in the industry where he has held top management positions in various high tech startups and “turnarounds” in storage hardware and software companies. Previously he was at Hammer Storage Solutions, acquired by Bell Microproducts; Shepherd Surveillance Inc.; Sytron Corp, acquired by Dorado Products; Maxtor Corp; and others.

— Jo Maitland, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch http://www.byteandswitch.com