FREMONT, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jan 6, 2009 -- 3PAR® (NYSE:PAR - News), the leading global provider of utility storage, announced today that recent research conducted by TheInfoPro (TIP) as part of its Wave 11 Storage Study reflects the growing importance of thin provisioning to Fortune-1000 and Midsize Enterprise storage end users. The number of respondents rating thin provisioning as an important virtualization technology has increased over the last three waves of the study, up more than 30% between Wave 9 and Wave 11. In total, 87% of Wave 11 respondents indicated that they considered thin provisioning an important virtualization technology. According to a recent survey conducted by 3PAR, 50% of 3PAR Utility Storage customers surveyed said that over the past 12 months they have saved at least $50,000 in up-front capacity purchases with 3PAR Thin Provisioning.

"With the current downturn in the economy, end users are indicating that much of their efforts are being focused on consolidation, refresh, and improving storage utilization -- reclaiming under-used and overallocated storage -- thereby maximizing assets and minimizing spending," said Robert Stevenson, Managing Director of Storage Research for TIP. "Our research shows that one of the key technologies in use to maximize these efforts is thin provisioning, which has moved up from a 'nice to have' feature to a 'must have' for intelligent storage utilization management."

3PAR has built a comprehensive strategy for allowing customers to start thin, get thin, and stay thin. This includes the use of 3PAR Thin Provisioning software to reduce storage capacity requirements by as much as 75%. 3PAR also recently introduced new InServ T-Class Storage Servers featuring Thin Built In(TM) technology. These third-generation utility storage arrays are the first in the industry to incorporate a "fat-to-thin" volume conversion mechanism right into silicon to ensure high rates of capacity utilization while maintaining industry-leading performance levels. To help customers get thin and stay thin, 3PAR and Symantec also recently announced a development partnership to introduce Thin Reclamation -- a granular, intelligent, and automated mechanism for reclaiming unused storage capacity based on the sharing of intelligence gathered at the file system level, another industry first.

"This year saw many vendors scrambling to introduce products to meet the demand created by 3PAR Thin Provisioning," said David Scott, 3PAR President and CEO. "But not all thin provisioning is created equal. As the first storage vendor to build thin technology into our storage architecture, 3PAR has continued to demonstrate leadership in thin provisioning innovation. Vendors just now coming out with what they claim to be 'thin' solutions are actually just offering bolt-on products that simply cannot compete with 3PAR's incumbency in this key technology area."

To preview findings of TheInfoPro Wave 11 Storage Study findings, visit http://www.theinfopro.net/public/home/document.php?dA=storage

About TheInfoPro

TheInfoPro (TIP) is the only independent research network for the Information Technology (IT) industry. Created in 2002 by alumni of Gartner, EMC, Giga, and Bell Labs, TIP investigates key IT sectors -- Networking, Information Security, Servers, Storage, and Sourcing -- via a comprehensive in-depth interview process. Through a peer network of over 1800 of the world's largest buyers and users of IT -- including Citigroup, FedEx, McGraw-Hill, MasterCard, and Harvard University -- TIP delivers detailed budget, vendor performance and technology roadmap data without spin or bias. Known as the voice of the customer, TIP helps IT professionals, technology providers, and institutional investors make sound decisions on technologies, vendor relationships and investments. To learn more, visit www.theinfopro.net or call 1-212-672-0010.

About 3PAR

3PAR® (NYSE:PAR - News) is the leading global provider of utility storage, a category of highly virtualized, tightly clustered, and dynamically tiered storage arrays built for utility computing. Organizations use utility computing to build cost-effective virtualized IT infrastructures for flexible workload consolidation. 3PAR Utility Storage gives customers an alternative to traditional arrays by delivering resilient infrastructure with increased agility at a lower total cost to meet their rapidly changing business needs. As a pioneer of thin provisioning -- a green technology developed to address storage underutilization and inefficiencies -- 3PAR offers products designed to minimize power consumption and promote environmental responsibility. With 3PAR, customers have reduced the costs of allocated storage capacity, administration, and SAN infrastructure while increasing adaptability and resiliency. 3PAR Utility Storage is built to meet the demands of open systems consolidation, integrated data lifecycle management, and performance-intensive applications. For more information, visit the 3PAR Website at: www.3PAR.com.

© 2009 3PAR Inc. All rights reserved. 3PAR, the 3PAR logo, Serving Information, InServ, InForm, InSpire, and Thin Built In are all trademarks or registered trademarks of 3PAR Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

     3PAR Contact
     John D'Avolio
     Triggerfish Consulting for 3PAR
     415-642-4049
     Email Contact
      
     TheInfoPro Contact
     Bernadette Abel
     646-649-8539
     Email Contact