Mt. Rainier Project is a Breakthrough in Enterprise
   Application Acceleration, Bringing Transparent, Server-Based
          Caching to the SAN Using Industry-Standard SSDs

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Sept. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QLogic
(Nasdaq:QLGC) today announced new technology that seamlessly combines
its market-leading storage area network (SAN) host bus adapter (HBA)
technology with server-based, industry-standard solid-state drive (SSD)
flash storage. The Mt. Rainier project brings server-based SSD caching
performance to SAN storage, simplifying deployment and management while
delivering scalable performance to I/O hungry applications running in
single and clustered server environments.

Application performance has become a critical, competitive advantage
for organizations and has a direct impact on customer satisfaction,
service levels and overall business performance.
Application-transparent and infrastructure- and storage
subsystem-agnostic, Mt. Rainier delivers the application performance
acceleration benefits of server-based SSDs without many of the
limitations of current solutions. New breakthrough innovations include:


  --  Simplified deployment and management: Mt. Rainier does not require
      installation and management of separate drivers for I/O adapters, SSD
      cards and caching. The design uses only one QLogic(R) driver per OS
      which dramatically simplifies installation and management, particularly
      for servers running multiple virtual machines and clustered
      applications.

  --  Flexible hardware architecture: Mt. Rainier allows customers to connect
      different SSDs, including PCIe flash-based storage cards and
      industry-standard SAS SSDs.

  --  Adapter-based caching and SSD data management: Mt. Rainier cache
      processing and SSD data management are offloaded from the server to the
      Mt. Rainier adapter, resulting in an application-transparent and
      operating system-independent server-based SSD caching solution that
      provides scalable acceleration of critical server applications without
      consuming additional server resources.

  --  Shared caching: Many clustered enterprise applications and virtual
      server environments require shared storage resources. These applications
      typically cannot take advantage of server-based SSD solutions that
      utilize a direct-attached storage model because cached data is
      unavailable for sharing between multiple, physical servers. Mt. Rainier
      breaks the server captive cache model with a shared caching architecture
      that brings the benefits of server-based SSD performance acceleration to
      multi-server application configurations that benefit from the shared
      storage environments of SANs.

  --  High availability synchronous mirroring: Synchronous peer-to-peer
      mirroring across two Mt. Rainier adapters protects against data loss and
      ensures high availability for mission-critical applications.




"Increased server performance, higher virtual machine density, growth
in application clusters and more demanding business application
workloads have created a critical I/O performance imbalance between
servers, networks and storage subsystems," said Simon Biddiscombe,
president and chief executive officer, QLogic. "Mt. Rainier builds on
our leading market position and unique expertise in high performance
data center connectivity to bring a new category of scalable,
performance-enhancing solutions that are easy to deploy and address
some of the most performance-challenged environments in the data
center."

"Current caching solutions require separate device drivers for SAN
HBAs, SSD cards, and additional caching filter drivers and software,"
said Shishir Shah, senior vice president and general manager, Storage
Solutions Group, QLogic. "Mt. Rainier is flexible technology that
seamlessly combines the benefits of server-based SSD caching with
SAN-based storage using a standard QLogic driver. We've created a
shared SAN resource model for industry-standard SSDs in the server that
leverages existing SAN storage and infrastructure."

"Storage performance has long been one of the most pervasive challenges
in the data center," said Jeff Boles, senior analyst at Taneja Group.
"Over the past several decades, compute power has simply leapt past the
ability of SAN storage to keep up. QLogic's Mt. Rainier defines a new
technology category we call Server-based Storage Accelerators, in which
HBAs cache SAN data on server-based SSD storage in a transparent,
shared architecture. With QLogic's global presence and innovative
architecture, Mt. Rainier could well become the de facto choice for
solving I/O challenges in every data center."

Mt. Rainier technology will be initially deployed and managed as a
traditional SAN HBA, providing connectivity to Fibre Channel SANs
(10GbE, iSCSI and FCoE in the future). For additional information on
the Mt. Rainier project, please visit www.qlogic.com.

Follow QLogic @ twitter.com/qlogic

QLogic--the Ultimate in Performance

QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) is a global leader and technology innovator in
high performance networking, including adapters, switches and ASICs.
Leading OEMs and channel partners worldwide rely on QLogic products for
their data, storage and server networking solutions. For more
information, visit www.qlogic.com.

Disclaimer -- Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements relating to future results of
the company (including certain beliefs and projections regarding
business and market trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or
implied in the forward-looking statements. The company advises readers
that these potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to: unfavorable economic conditions; potential fluctuations in
operating results; gross margins that may vary over time; the stock
price of the company may be volatile; the company's dependence on the
networking markets served; the ability to maintain and gain market or
industry acceptance of the company's products; the company's dependence
on a small number of customers; the company's ability to compete
effectively with other companies; the complexity of the company's
products; declining average unit sales prices of comparable products;
the company's dependence on sole source and limited source suppliers;
the company's dependence on relationships with certain third-party
subcontractors and contract manufacturers; the ability to attract and
retain key personnel; sales fluctuations arising from customer
transitions to new products; seasonal fluctuations and uneven sales
patterns in orders from customers; a reduction in sales efforts by
current distributors; changes in the company's tax provisions or
adverse outcomes resulting from examination of its income tax returns;
international economic, currency, regulatory, political and other
risks; facilities of the company and its suppliers and customers are
located in areas subject to natural disasters; the ability to protect
proprietary rights; the ability to satisfactorily resolve any
infringement claims; uncertain benefits from strategic business
combinations, acquisitions and divestitures; declines in the market
value of the company's marketable securities; changes in and compliance
with regulations; difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry
process technologies; the use of "open source" software in the
company's products; security system risks, data protection breaches and
cyber-attacks; and issues related to the upgrade of the company's
enterprise resource planning system.

More detailed information on these and additional factors which could
affect the company's operating and financial results are described in
the company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed, or to be filed,
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company urges all
interested parties to read these reports to gain a better understanding
of the business and other risks that the company faces. The
forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made
only as of the date hereof, and the company does not intend to update
or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.

QLogic and the QLogic logo are registered trademarks of QLogic
Corporation. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are the
property of the companies with which they are associated.


CONTACT: Media Contact:
         Steve Sturgeon
         QLogic Corporation
         858.472.5669
         steve.sturgeon@qlogic.com
         
         Investor Contact:
         Jean Hu
         QLogic Corporation
         949.389.7579
         jean.hu@qlogic.com