STEC Stec, Inc. (MM)

STEC, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEC), The SSD Company™, a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and products, today announced that it has entered into a technology collaboration with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and customer Pure Storage, the all-flash enterprise storage company. The collaboration includes qualifying STEC's ZeusIOPS® SSDs for use in the Pure Storage FlashArray platform and focuses on optimizing the ZeusIOPS SSD architecture to deliver a high-performance, shared, non-volatile cache within the Pure Storage FlashArray. Enterprises that are constrained by legacy rotating disks will as a result of this collaboration benefit from lower total cost of ownership (TCO), power savings, and significant performance gains.

The collaboration will lower latency by fine-tuning STEC's 4th generation ASIC-based architecture to the Pure Storage Purity Operating Environment. STEC's ZeusIOPS SSDs are a key component of the Pure Storage FlashArray's high availability architecture, helping protect in-flight inputs/outputs (I/Os) during the deduplication and compression operations.

"Building on our long and successful track record of qualifications with the world's leading server and storage OEMs, our collaboration with Pure Storage is an example of how we are well positioned to enable the next-generation of innovators looking to transform the data center," said Scott Stetzer, STEC's Vice President of Technical Marketing. "We expect this collaboration to extend the reach of flash storage in the data center by delivering an extreme performance solution for demanding enterprise applications while reducing enterprise flash cost entry points."

When compared to traditional disk-centric storage arrays, the Pure Storage all-flash enterprise FlashArray is ten times faster, and ten times more space and power-efficient, making it ideal for high-performance workloads that include server virtualization, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) applications, database applications (such as Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and real-time analytics), and cloud computing. Today's collaboration is representative of how STEC's deep knowledge of SSD technology can help system builders fully realize the performance benefits that flash-based enterprise SSDs can deliver when not constrained by traditional hard disk drive (HDD)-based storage implementations.

"Although we believe that the future enterprise data center will be an all-solid-state architecture, current widespread adoption of flash in the enterprise is dependent on flash storage arrays beating traditional disk storage in every dimension possible, including performance, price and resiliency," said Matt Kixmoeller, Vice President of Products for Pure Storage. "This collaboration with STEC contributes to the high-performance compression, deduplication, and high availability functions of the Pure Storage FlashArray, delivering on the promise of reliable enterprise flash storage, below the cost of legacy spinning disks."

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage, the all-flash enterprise storage company, enables the broad deployment of flash in the data center. When compared to traditional disk-centric arrays, Pure Storage all-flash enterprise arrays are 10x faster and 10x more space and power efficient at a price point that is less than performance disk per gigabyte stored. The Pure Storage FlashArray is ideal for high-performance workloads including server virtualization, desktop virtualization, database (OLTP, real-time analytics) and cloud computing. For more information, visit www.purestorage.com.

About STEC

STEC, Inc., The SSD Company™, is a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and solutions tailored to meet the high-performance, high-reliability needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). With headquarters in Santa Ana, California and locations worldwide, STEC leverages almost two decades of solid-state knowledge and experience to deliver the most comprehensive line of SSDs to the storage industry. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.stec-inc.com.

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STEC, the STEC logo, The SSD Company, and ZeusIOPS are either registered trademarks or trademarks of STEC, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks or brand names referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those statements concerning the relationship and collaboration between STEC and Pure Storage; customer adoption and utilization of STEC's ZeusIOPS SSDs and Pure Storage FlashArrays; the performance, capabilities and benefits of STEC's and Pure Storage's solutions; the benefits from the integration of STEC's ZeusIOPS SSDs into the Pure Storage FlashArray; the adoption of SSDs in general into new applications and markets; the benefits from other developing technologies; and the evolving enterprise storage and server markets. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by STEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. The information contained in this press release is a statement of STEC's present intention, belief or expectation. STEC may change its intention, belief or expectation, at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors, in STEC's assumptions or otherwise. STEC undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT: MEDIA CONTACTS:
         Scott Harlin
         Public Relations Manager
         STEC, Inc.
         (949) 260-8231
         sharlin@stec-inc.com
         
         Amber Winans
         Managing Director
         Bhava Communications
         (510) 984-1526
         purestorage@bhavacom.com