Xyratex is First to Announce Support for Hitachi’s Enterprise-Class 2TB Hard Drive
Thur 13 Aug, 2009

Havant, United Kingdom, August 13, 2009 -– Xyratex Ltd. (Nasdaq: XRTX), a leading provider of enterprise-class data storage subsystems and storage process technology, today announced support for Hitachi GST’s enterprise-class 7,200 RPM 2TB offering, the Ultrastar A7K2000 hard disk drive. Hitachi’s Ultrastar A7K2000 2TB hard drives have been fully integrated into Xyratex’s family of storage systems, making it the industry’s first, fully integrated external storage subsystem to deliver the highest-capacity, most energy efficient 7,200 RPM drives per capacity available for enterprise storage systems.

“For years Xyratex has been at the front end of delivering high capacity storage systems that meet the needs generated by the ever increasing storage growth,” said Todd Gresham, senior vice president, Networked Storage Solutions, Xyratex. “We look forward to extending our long-term relationship with Hitachi and utilizing the A7K2000 in our current and future systems.”

Xyratex offers a family of storage solutions built on a long history of innovation resulting in robust reliability and energy efficiencies. The OneStorTM family is noteworthy for its flexible and scalable architecture that reduces sustaining engineering costs and product qualification expense. Xyratex OEMs are able to customize the system to meet a diverse set of application workloads and environments ranging from data centers to distributed operations. Xyratex also delivers a storage server platform that allows the convergence of servers and storage in a single, highly available system. The Hitachi 2TB Ultrastar A7K2000 hard disk drive will be available for Xyratex products over the next quarter.

“Xyratex and Hitachi are committed to meeting the explosive capacity growth in enterprise data centers while advancing reduced power consumption and improved system performance,” said Brendan Collins, vice president of marketing, Hitachi GST. “Xyratex has the proven experience and strong customer base that will enable us to accelerate the acceptance of 2TB hard disk drives in the enterprise.”

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) develops advanced hard disk drives, enterprise-class solid state drives, and innovative external storage solutions and services used to store, preserve and manage the world’s most valued data. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, Hitachi GST provides high-value storage for a broad range of market segments, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Personal Storage. Hitachi GST was established in 2003 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit the company’s website at http://www.hitachigst.com.

About Xyratex

Xyratex is a leading provider of enterprise-class data storage subsystems and storage process technology. The company designs and manufactures enabling technology that provides OEM and disk drive manufacturers with data storage products to support high-performance storage and data communication networks. Xyratex has over 25 years of experience in research and development relating to disk drives, storage systems, and high-speed communication protocols.

Founded in 1994 in a management buy-out from IBM, and with headquarters in the UK, Xyratex has an established global base with R&D and operational facilities in Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia.