Northern announces Microsoft purchase of Northern Storage Suite 2005 Enterprise License for internal deployment

Tampa, Florida – June 21, 2005: NORTHERN, global providers of flexible, easy-to-administer, Windows-based storage resource management (SRM) software solutions, today announces that Microsoft has purchased an enterprise license of Northern Storage Suite 2005.

The terms of the license enable Microsoft to deploy Northern Storage Suite on an unlimited number of servers and manage unlimited capacity. Northern Storage Suite consolidates Northern’s entire family of storage software products into one universal SRM solution, integrating disk quotas, reporting, charge-back, automation, and end-user interaction. The suite facilitates smooth migration and easy scalability, enabling users to turn on features as needed in response to changes in their storage environment.

Northern Storage Suite 2005 offers NAS support, is cluster-aware, expands storage self management through an enhanced end-user portal, simplifies multi-server configuration, and more.

“Northern pioneered Windows-based storage resource management over 10 years ago, which makes Microsoft’s decision to use its storage resource management to Northern Storage Suite particularly rewarding,” said Thomas Vernersson, Northern President. “It’s a validation of our unwavering focus on developing robust storage management on the Windows platform, an approach that has resulted in more than 25,000 satisfied customers worldwide. In selecting Northern Storage Suite, Microsoft will benefit from a flexible and easy-to-manage SRM solution–one that Northern will continue to evolve to meet ever-changing storage management challenges.”

"Customers are looking for easy-to-manage and reliable storage resource management across Windows environments,” said Ben Fathi, General Manager, Windows Server Division. “Microsoft is pleased about Northern’s focus and 10-year history in developing and delivering complete storage resource management solutions for Windows environments, making it a good choice for Microsoft’s internal deployment”

Northern Storage Suite 2005: Core Functionality

Northern Storage Suite 2005 offers the three ingredients companies want most: comprehensive storage resource management that increases efficiencies while lowering administrative overhead, a solution that makes storage less expensive to manage, and a solution that affords policy-based storage management that can be aligned with objectives on a departmental or organizational level.

Northern Storage Suite 2005 is available directly from Pillar Solutions, the UK distributor for Northern Software.

For more information, contact Pillar Solutions on 01732 363670 or by email at sales@pillar-solutions.com

http://www.pillar-solutions.com/p_nss/

About Northern

Northern is an international software company specializing in the development of reliable, flexible, and easy to use storage management solutions for Windows Server Systems. The company serves a global market through its two bases of operations, Tampa [FL] and Stockholm [Sweden]. Over 25,000 organizations, in 52 different countries are using Northern software solutions.

The Northern Storage Suite, as well as the company’s full complement of network administration utilities, is available through resellers worldwide (spanning 86 countries), authorized distributors.

About Pillar Solutions

Founded in 1993, Pillar Solutions are the UK distributor of Northern Storage Suite 2005.

Pillar Solutions commitment to quality products and superior technical support are key contributors to their company's rapid growth. Not only do they offer a high level of technical support, consultancy and training, but they also work very closely with their developers as their sales and support arm to provide a robust and scalable solution. Pillar Solutions specialise in a handful of best of breed products and boast a high level of customer service with a personal touch.

http://www.pillar-solutions.com/p_nss/

Media Contacts:

Northern
Thomas Vernersson, President
Thomas.vernersson@northern.net

Backbone PR Agency
Charles Epstein, Public Relations
che@backboneinc.com

Pillar Solutions, UK Distributor
Benjamin Gardner, Marketing
ben@pillar-solutions.com