Finisar and Seagate Collaborate to Accelerate the Deployment of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

SUNNYVALE, CA, Mar. 08, 2005 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR), a leading provider of network performance tools and fiber optic subsystems, announced today that it is teaming with Seagate (NYSE: STX) on its newly announced SAS System Launch Program (SSLP). Finisar's Medusa Labs will conduct SAS qualification tests to verify proper functionality and operation between all SAS components within Seagate's program. Seagate's SSLP is designed to support the industry transition from legacy parallel SCSI to trusted Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage solutions.

Finisar's Medusa Labs Group specializes in the testing and training of storage networking protocols such as SAS, SATA, Fibre Channel and iSCSI. Under Seagate's SSLP, Finisar's Medusa labs will provide a stringent set of test suites to monitor product functionality, SAS protocol compliance, stability, data integrity, and performance in both optimal and error-induced states. Error and recovery work will verify that the products are up to par for the heaviest enterprise applications and workloads. Seagate and its leading partner companies will deliver fully tested and validated SAS solutions to the marketplace helping ensure a smooth transition to the next standard in enterprise storage.

Finisar and its Medusa Labs group have been leading the market in SAS technology testing and verification since 2002. To add to this leadership, Finisar acquired DataTransit Corporation in August 2004 and its industry leading SVT (Specification Verification Tool) for SAS and the PacketMaker product line. Finisar has infused these new products into its own award-winning product lines including the Medusa Labs Test Tool Suite for Fibre Channel, SAS, SATA, iSCSI and SCSI and its powerful array of testing, training and professional services. Finsar was awarded the Frost and Sullivan's Market Leadership award for testing in 2003.

"Companies such as Finisar's Medusa Labs are the first to join Seagate in leading the industry to the future of SCSI storage. Together, we are sending a signal to the industry that we are committed to producing world-class SAS-based storage solutions that the enterprise is demanding," said Henry Fabian, Seagate executive director of Global Product Marketing. "We applaud those companies and look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationships with them and others to lead SAS market adoption."

"Finisar's Medusa Labs understands the importance of verifying vendor solutions so that customers can be assured of getting the highest degree of quality and reliability built into their SAS solutions," said Kevin Cornell, Senior Vice President and General Manager Finisar Network Tools and Finisar's Medusa Labs. "Finisar's collaboration with Seagate will help assure IT professionals that SSLP-verified products can be trusted right out of the gate.

"SAS-enabled storage solutions that are part of the SSLP will begin shipping as early as April. Seagate's SSLP is open to system vendors that are working on SAS-based storage.

About Finisar
Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) is a technology leader for fiber optic subsystems and network test and monitoring systems. These products enable high-speed data communications for networking and storage applications over Gigabit Ethernet Local Area Networks (LANs), Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks (SANs), and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) using Fibre Channel, IP and SONET/SDH protocols. The Company's headquarters is in Sunnyvale, California, USA.

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