CENATEK AND SOUTHLAND MICRO SYSTEMS STRIKE STRATEGIC BUSINESS ALLIANCE Key Partnership Combines Their Strengths and Expands the Channel for Their Respective Product Lines

Key partnership between CENATEK and Southland Micro Systems combines their strengths and expands the channel for their respective product lines. CENATEK's Rocket Drive is a PCI bus-attached solid state disk (SSD) with an incredibly fast access time of 0.6 microseconds. DIMM modules from world-class memory manufacturer, Southland Micro Systems, add value to Rocket Drive by guaranteeing top quality performance for distributors, resellers, system integrators and OEMs.

April 16, 2002 (PRWEB) April 17, 2002 -- CENATEK, Inc., the provider of high speed, high performance storage solutions, announced today that it has entered into a strategic business partnership with world-class memory manufacturer Southland Micro Systems for joint product development. The agreement also includes distribution and marketing of CENATEKs PCI-based solid state disk (SSD) products with Southlands qualified DIMMs.

We are very excited to have an agreement with a recognized world leader such as Southland Micro Systems," said Sherri Chien-Niclas, vice president of sales and marketing at CENATEK. Their established reputation in the memory arena will now include Rocket Drive, a high performance storage solution that relies on quality SDRAM such as that which Southland provides. With this exclusive partnership, our core competencies and resources merge to produce superior solutions and services for our customers."

The partnership between Southland and CENATEK provides an excellent opportunity to expand the potential of the SSD market," said Doug Dolan, Southlands vice president of OEM/EMS sales. By entering the development and distribution of the Rocket Drive product line-the fastest, most reliable and affordable SSD products on the market today-Southland also ensures its continued leadership in providing innovative, high quality solutions to our customers worldwide."

The Rocket Drive functions as a hard drive, storing data on SDRAM rather than magnetic media, and has no moving parts. Designed as a system component and engineered to have the most minimal system footprint, Rocket Drive attaches directly to the system PCI bus on the motherboards of servers and workstations for increased storage and performance over traditional SSD subsystems attached through SCSI and Fibre Channel connections.

Southlands DIMM modules add value to Rocket Drive by guaranteeing top quality performance for distributors, resellers, system integrators and OEMs; they are guaranteed to be 100% compatible with the CENATEKs Rocket Drive and are supported under the manufacturers warranty.

About Southland Micro Systems
Southland Micro Systems is a leading ISO9001 certified designer and manufacturer of quality memory upgrades for computing, storage, embedded, communications, consumer electronics, and military/rugged applications. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., the company markets its products globally to OEMs, EMS corporations, major distributors, reseller networks, and channel partners. Southland retains membership in numerous industry developer programs. All Southland products are backed by a limited lifetime warranty and unsurpassed, value-add services. Southland has been engineering quality solutions since 1987. For additional information, please contact Southland Micro Systems at (949) 380-1958 or visit our web site at http://www.southlandmicro.com.

About CENATEK
CENATEK, Inc., launched in July 2001, is revolutionizing the way data is stored and retrieved on computers, networks and the Internet. The company's high speed storage and data access products leverage patented solid state disk technology to set new standards for price and performance. In addition to its flagship product, the Rocket Drive, CENATEK offers RAMDisk software products and storage consulting services for businesses of all sizes. Headquartered in Morgan Hill, Calif., CENATEK also maintains research and development offices in Redding, Calif. For more information, visit the CENATEK Web site at http://www.cenatek.com, or contact CENATEK Corporate at 18625 Sutter Blvd., Suite 800, Morgan Hill, CA, 95037-2864, USA. Telephone: (408) 782-1220. Fax: (408) 782-1120. E-mail: info@cenatek.com.

Press contacts:

At Southland Micro Systems
Richard Petit
Tel: (949) 380-1958 x126
rpetit@southlandmicro.com

At CENATEK
Sherri J. Chien-Niclas
Tel: (408) 782-1220
schien@cenatek.com