Violin Memory®, Inc., (NYSE:VMEM), a leading provider of all-flash storage arrays and appliances delivering application solutions for the enterprise, announced today general availability of the Windows Flash Array (WFA). Jointly developed with Microsoft® Corp., the WFA is the first all-flash high-performance storage array powered by Windows® Storage Server 2012 R2 to deliver a rich set of storage features and data services for the enterprise. The unmatched speed and efficiency of the Windows Flash Array transforms the datacenter by dramatically reducing server overhead and application response times through improved storage performance, fundamentally altering the cost structure of enterprise applications. The Windows Flash Array enables enterprise and cloud workloads, such as SQL® Server, Microsoft SharePoint® and Windows® Server with Hyper-V virtualized applications, to meet the needs of global enterprises, while satisfying IT operational demands for maximized agility, automation, and orchestration between network, storage and compute resources.

Compared to an industry standard all-flash array connected via Fibre Channel, customers using the Vi ...

Compared to an industry standard all-flash array connected via Fibre Channel, customers using the Violin Windows Flash Array reported higher SQL Server reads and writes and higher Hyper-V writes. (Graphic: Business Wire)

“Microsoft technologies, such as Windows Server, SQL Server and Microsoft SharePoint, are already adopted by enterprises worldwide and growing dramatically,” said Bill Laing, Corporate Vice- President of Microsoft. “By jointly developing this highly integrated solution with Violin Memory, we are working together to provide enterprise and cloud customers with dramatically improved performance, scalability, and economics for their Windows applications — virtualized, physical and cloud.”

The WFA is a tightly integrated combination of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 and Violin’s award winning hardware and software into a single solution that delivers high performance all-flash array storage for enterprise and cloud customers. Customers benefit from the proven storage features of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 embedded into the Windows All Flash Array, including thin provisioning, data deduplication, scalability and encryption along with space efficient snapshots and continuous availability, through Windows failover clustering.

“The WFA solution with Microsoft’s vast suite of server applications is critical for enterprises trying to revolutionize the performance, scale and cost of data center and cloud deployments,” said Kevin DeNuccio, CEO of Violin Memory. “This collaboration with Microsoft produces the necessary integration of compute, network, applications, and storage for customers designing the next generation of cloud and virtualized solutions.”

Microsoft has significantly improved the efficiency and feature set of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 but, most importantly, it provides a new way to connect external storage and make it perform like fast local storage. The Server Message Block (SMB) Direct protocol enabled by remote direct memory access (RDMA) makes possible a compelling enterprise-class storage alternative to traditional SANs. Testing by Microsoft reveals that SMB Direct can reduce CPU overhead by up to 30 percent, while delivering higher performance storage that is less expensive and easier to administer through native Windows Server management tools.

SQL Server is an enterprise-class database that enables customers to build mission-critical applications across OLTP, data warehousing, business intelligence and analytics workloads. These enterprise applications are essential workloads that benefit from the WFA. Customers beta testing the Windows Flash Array with 2012 SQL Server reported that the WFA delivered up to two times the write performance and up to 50 percent higher read performance, compared to an industry standard all-flash array connected via Fibre Channel.

Windows Server with Hyper-V is one of the leading virtualization platforms helping customers achieve a higher utilization and ROI from their server assets. The high level of random I/O requests from virtualized workloads make the WFA a natural fit. In Hyper-V environments, WFA achieved up to 40 percent higher write performance in customer beta tests. Increased storage performance means enterprises can increase host server virtual machine density, bolstering their virtualization ROI while reducing CAPEX.

The net effect for customers is a significant reduction in compute and storage expense, while meeting the most demanding application SLAs with orders of magnitude improvement in response times. WFA is the first end-to-end continuously available, high performance All-Flash Windows Storage Server Array for the enterprise market.

Microsoft has certified the WFA as a supported system for Windows Server 2012 R2 and is available directly from Violin Memory and its global community of channel partners with shipments beginning April 22. Please contact Violin for additional information.

END USER QUOTE

Justin Gasparre, Director Situational Awareness, Service Integration Branch, CIO Group, Dept. of Defense, Australia

“The Windows Flash Array has exceeded our expectations within the data warehouse and business reporting environments. The combination of the Windows 2012 technologies and Flash Array as a platform enables virtualized environments to be truly scalable and resilient with a performance level equal to or greater than direct attached flash storage. This translates to a data warehouse and reporting environment returning immediate value, outperforming traditional vendor offerings and with the lowest TCO compared to traditional storage arrays.”

ANALYST QUOTES

Brian Garrett, Vice President, ESG

“We've been fans of the software defined storage inside Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and the flash defined storage from Violin Memory ever since we tested solutions from each of these industry leaders separately. But we're blown away with the Violin Memory Windows Flash Array that combines the power of both. This unique partnership has created a one of a kind solution that dramatically increases the performance and efficiency of business critical application workloads like Microsoft SQL Server and VDI.”

Eric Burgener, Flash Storage Research Director, IDC

“All flash arrays have captured the highest tier of the enterprise storage market for their application acceleration capabilities that go beyond the requirements of today’s data-driven organizations. Bringing together these established benefits found in the 64TB Violin Memory All-Flash Array with Windows Storage Server 2012 R2, Microsoft and Violin have created a certified solution to improve the performance of Hyper-V, SQL server and SharePoint environments.”

Dave Vellante, Chief Research Officer, Wikibon

“The Windows Flash Array is unique in the market. By embedding Windows management functionality into the storage controller, Microsoft and Violin are solving a problem we often hear from practitioners in the Wikibon community. Namely, that they don’t have the resources, skills or desire to deal with a separate storage management system. We believe closer integration between Windows and an all-flash array will have broad appeal for SMBs who are resource strapped, and large organizations that want to eliminate management complexity.”

CHANNEL PARTNER QUOTE

Michael Frandsen, CEO, MentalNote, Microsoft Certified Consultant

“The performance found in the Windows Flash Array is transformative. It allows customers to redesign their datacenters to respond to user needs faster, which is key in a world where speed is a competitive advantage.”

DISTRIBUTOR PARTNER QUOTES

John Walters, Managing Director, NextGen Distribution, Australia

“The Violin Windows Flash Array fits cohesively with our customers' requirements for high performance, easy to manage all-flash storage. The seamless integration into Windows IT environments will reduce time to production and ease service and support expenses.”

Masataka Kunisue, General Manager, Storage Network Solution Dept, SCSK Corporation

“Advanced computing environments can be a challenge to implement. The Windows Flash Array delivers leading performance and features that allow us and our resellers to deliver new levels of value.”

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About Violin Memory, Inc.

Business in a Flash. Violin Memory transforms the speed of business with high performance, always available, low cost management of critical business information and applications. Violin’s All Flash optimized solutions accelerate breakthrough CAPEX and OPEX savings for building the next generation data center. Violin’s Flash Fabric Architecture (FFA) speeds data delivery with chip-to-chassis performance optimization that achieves lower consistent latency and cost per transaction for Cloud, Enterprise, and Virtualized mission-critical applications. Violin's All Flash Arrays and Appliances, and enterprise data management software solutions enhance agility and mobility while revolutionizing datacenter economics. Founded in 2005, Violin Memory is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. For more information, visit www.violin-memory.com. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/violinmemory.

This public announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements with respect to the performance of Windows Flash Array, the business, financial and other results that may be achieved by the use of Windows Flash Array, and statements relating to Violin Memory’s business plans and strategy. There are a significant number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements made in this public announcement, including: Violin Memory's limited operating history, particularly as a new public company, the competition faced by Violin Memory in the marketplace; Violin Memory’s history of large purchases by a limited number of customers; risks associated with a transition in executive leadership; its relationship with Toshiba as its sole supplier of flash-based memory; risks associated with the development, production and support of Violin Memory’s products; and numerous other market, political, economic and business conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect Violin Memory's business performance and financial results are included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in Violin Memory's annual report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and which is available on the Violin Memory's investor relations website at investor.violin-memory.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements in this public announcement are based on information available to Violin Memory as of the date hereof, and Violin Memory does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

All Violin Memory news releases (financial, acquisitions, manufacturing, products, technology, etc.) are issued exclusively by Business Wire and are immediately thereafter posted on the company’s external website, www.violin-memory.com. Violin, Violin Memory and the Violin Memory logo are trademarks of Violin Memory, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other brand or product names used in this public announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SUPPORTING QUOTES SHEET

Marc Staimer, President, Dragon Slayer Consulting

“Violin Memory's Windows Flash Array effectively delivers blistering performance for Microsoft workloads. Microsoft and Violin cooperated and worked closely together to engineer and fine-tune Microsoft’s Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 with Violin's Flash array to transparently supercharge Microsoft application performance. It looks like they've succeeded.”

Randy Kerns, Senior Strategist, Evaluator Group

“Violin Memory and Microsoft have created a new enterprise storage solution that fundamentally changes the way businesses can benefit from the features of Microsoft applications and systems. The ability to utilize a very high performance flash storage system with the embedded features including encryption, deduplication, live migration, RDMA transfers, transparent failover, and scale out makes the Windows Flash Array the first of its kind on the market.”

Greg Wong, Founder and Principal Analyst, Forward Insights

“This comprehensive solution from Violin Memory and Microsoft accelerates the most widely used enterprise applications to address the critical needs in the tier one storage market. Customers who rely on Microsoft for the success of their business can now consolidate and elevate the value of their infrastructure to fundamentally change the cost and performance of deploying high random I/O workloads like Hyper-V, SQL Server and large scale VDI.”

David Hill, Principal, Mesabi Group

“Many enterprises rely on Microsoft IT environments, but need better return on investment and a lower total cost of ownership for their applications. Storage is typically the bottleneck, but the jointly developed Violin Windows Flash Array requires less server utilization supporting Microsoft enterprise applications to improve the performance of high random I/O workloads and consolidate IT initiatives. Organizations who suffer from application and server sprawl will greatly benefit from the WFA that improves the capabilities of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 to deliver rich file and storage services by putting Windows intelligence in the array.”

Jim Bagley, Senior Analyst, SSG Now

“The explosive growth in flash storage implementations has penetrated the enterprise and mid-market because of its ability to bolster performance for applications like server and desktop virtualization, OLTP and analytics. However, organizations are in need of hardware greater than technical feeds and speeds. The new Violin Memory Windows Flash Array has the enterprise management features required to become a critical solution for companies who rely upon Microsoft applications to run their business.”

George Crump, Founder, Storage Switzerland

“Many storage vendors rave about the value add of their systems being in the software stack and not in the flash-based hardware platform architected to get the best performance out of the chips. The joint development between Violin Memory and Microsoft takes the best of both to build a one of its kind solution. By building Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 directly into Violin’s uniquely designed all-flash array, enterprises will find that their Microsoft applications, including Hyper-V, SQL Server and SharePoint will run at incredible rates to transform their business critical processes.”

Arun Taneja, Founder, Taneja Group

“Microsoft applications are a mainstay in thousands of data centers around the world and support the business critical processes of millions of organizations. By combining the performance benefits of flash memory with the enterprise features of Microsoft, the Violin Memory Windows Flash Array dramatically accelerates the performance of these applications in enterprise and private cloud deployments. In an apples to apples comparison, this Violin array will likely deliver greater performance improvement than the array without such deep integration with Microsoft. Consequently, I expect that together the two companies will deliver better return on investment and lowered total cost ownership for high random I/O workloads like SQL server, large scale VDI and file server.”

Tim Stammers, Senior Analyst, The 451 Group

“Violin and Microsoft have together created a very unusual storage system. Violin’s flash technology gives the Windows Flash Array extremely high storage performance, which has the knock-on effect of reducing CPU load on application servers, while also cutting operational costs by eliminating storage as a source of performance bottlenecks. Meanwhile the Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 operating system that runs the Windows Flash Array also boosts application performance, by supporting fast, low-latency RDMA networks in a way that other storage systems cannot do.”