20/04-04   -   Pressemeddelelse

BakBone Software and Snap appliance partner to provide complete backup and restore solution

Partnership Offers Simple, Cost-Effective and Reliable Back-up Technology for Small/Medium Businesses and the Distributed Enterprise Market

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — April 20, 2004 — As part of the first phase in a multi-phased alliance, BakBone Software™ (OTCBB: BKBOF, TSX: BKB), a global provider of data backup and recovery software, and Snap Appliance ®, a leader in distributed data management solutions, today announced a technology and business partnership to deliver simple, cost-effective data protection and recovery solutions for the enterprise.

BakBone’s NetVaultTM 7 for GuardianOS™ v3.0 will back up and restore data that resides on Snap ServersTM to locally attached tape drives or libraries. This powerful combination delivers enhanced data protection and enterprise-class functionality that can scale to meet the demands of any size IT environment. Snap Appliance’s disk-based backup solution can be deployed as the primary backup server or as a tape displacement solution. Using NetVault’s Virtual Disk Libraries (VDL) capability, backups can easily be sent directly to a Snap Server for improved performance during backup and recovery. VDL staging can minimize the impact on networks and act as a buffer to ensure device streaming when it’s time to copy staged data from the Snap Server to tape for permanent archiving or off-site vaulting.

The BakBone/Snap Appliance partnership provides a complete, scalable solution for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) that desire a cost-effective way to upgrade their backup IT environment and for large distributed enterprises looking to completely replace tape in satellite offices, departments and large workgroups. In a multiple server installation, data from up to five heterogeneous clients can be streamed over the IP network to a tape device that is locally attached to a single Snap Server. This partnership follows Snap’s recently announced support for BakBone’s Linux Advantage Program, a joint marketing and development initiative designed to guarantee data protection for enterprise applications running on Linux.

“This partnership is a clear endorsement of the strength of BakBone’s products and BakBone’s leadership role in the storage management software market," said Keith Rickard, president and CEO, BakBone Software. “BakBone´s support for Snap Appliance’s GuardianOS provides our customers with security and confidence supported by a trusted data protection solution. NetVault´s easy-to-deploy and heterogeneous enterprise data recovery solution, combined with Snap’s award winning software, expands our current product offering and demonstrates our commitment to meet the demands of a rapidly growing storage market."

“Businesses are constantly challenged with finding an affordable way to effectively manage the backup and restoration process for important data and to comply with legislative ordinances," said Eric Kelly, CEO Snap Appliance. “By working closely with BakBone and seamlessly integrating NetVault into Snap’s GuardianOS, we are demonstrating our ongoing commitment to data protection and recovery solutions for our enterprise and SMB clients."

Features and benefits:
• Enhances Backup and Restore Performance – BakBone NetVault for GuardianOS v3.0 enables faster backup and restore performance

• Optimal Use of Resources – Backup resources are optimized by backing up and restoring concurrently between a single node and multiple devices, multiple nodes and a single device, or multiple nodes and multiple devices

• Minimizes Network Congestion – Performance is optimized for large application servers by sending data to a SCSI-attached tape library for fast backups and restores with minimal network overhead

• Improves Security and Reliability – Sensitive data is quickly and easily protected and restored off the corporate network by directly connecting a SCSI-attached tape library to any Guardian OS v3.0™ based Snap Server platform

• Ensures Scalability – Critical backup systems can grow as the enterprise grows

Pricing and Availability
New GuardianOS-powered Snap Servers will begin shipping with Version 3.0 on April 6, 2004. The new Version 3.0 release is backward compatible with all past departmental- and enterprise-class Snap Server products that use the GuardianOS operating system and will be available for existing customers to purchase and download from www.snapappliance.com beginning on April 6, 2004. More information is available by calling +1 888 343 SNAP (+1 888 343 7627).

The NetVault storage management solution scales from the simple workgroup LAN to an enterprise-wide NAS environment. The NetVault Server can easily be upgraded to support additional Virtual Disk Library capacity (for disk-to-disk backup), clients, tape drives, library slot capacity, and much more. The NetVault Client can be enhanced by adding various Application Plugin Modules (APMs) to enable hot backup and restore for most applications and databases, including Oracle, MS Exchange, Sybase, Informix, DB2, Lotus Notes, MS SQL, SAP, and Adabas. Expanded technical support and service contracts are also available directly from BakBone or an authorized BakBone Reseller. For more information on NetVault options, please call +358 18 17598 or email sales_europe@bakbone.com

About BakBone Software, Inc.
BakBone Software is a leading international data recovery solution provider that develops and distributes data backup, restore, and disaster recovery software for network storage and open-systems environments. BakBone delivers scalable solutions that address the complex demands of large enterprise environments, as well as small to medium sized businesses. Founded in 2000, BakBone products are used by Fortune 1000 corporations and domestic and international government entities. Distributed through a select global network of OEM partners, resellers and solution providers, interested customers can learn more information about BakBone’s products and services at www.bakbone.com or email sales_europe@bakbone.com

About Snap Appliance
Snap Appliance is a leader in distributed data management solutions and the worldwide volume leader in network-attached storage (NAS) solutions. With the industry’s largest NAS installed customer base, Snap is the expert at providing simple, scalable storage solutions for leading enterprises and organizations across a wide range of industries. The GuardianOS® is Snap’s unified software platform for distributed data management – with the goal of supporting any enterprise platform, any application, anywhere in the network. The Snap Server® product family represents true business value, providing innovative technology and rich feature sets that allow organizations to leverage their information assets. Snap’s established channel partnerships and world-class service and support team ensure a rewarding customer experience. Snap Appliance is headquartered in San Jose, California. More information is available at www.snapappliance.com.

Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, which, if they do not materialize or prove correct, could cause the results of BakBone or Snap Appliance to differ materially from historical results, or those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including statements containing the words "planned," "expects," "believes," "strategy," "opportunity," "anticipates," and similar words. These statements may include, among others, plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements regarding proposed new products, services or developments; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; statements of belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. The potential risks and uncertainties may include, but are not limited to, competition in our target markets; potential capital needs; management of future growth and expansion; risk of third-party claims of infringement; protection of proprietary information, customer acceptance of the company´s products and fee structures; the success of BakBone´s and Snap Appliance brand development efforts; risks associated with strategic alliances; reliance on distribution channels; product concentration; need to develop new and enhanced products; potential product defects; our ability to hire and retain qualified employees and key management personnel; and risks associated with changes in domestic and international market conditions and the entry into and development of international markets for the company´s products. These forward-looking statements should be considered in the context of these and other risk factors disclosed in the most recent reports filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators, which is available on the SEDAR disclosure system at www.sedar.com and/or those risk factors disclosed in current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which may be found at www.sec.gov. All future written and oral forward-looking statements are also subject to these factors. BakBone or Snap Appliance assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which it was made.

BakBone, BakBone Software, NetVault, Application Plugin Module, APM, the BakBone logo, Snap Appliance and GuardianOS are all trademarks or registered trademarks of BakBone Software, Inc. or Snap Appliance in the United States and/or in other countries. All other brands, products or service names are or may be trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of, and used to identify, products or services of their respective owners.