EMC AVALON PRODUCT DIVISION ENTERS WORLDWIDE
RESELLER AGREEMENT WITH RORKE DATA

AMSTERDAM, 12 September 2003, International Broadcasters Consortium, Hall 7, Stand 711, — EMC Avalon Product Division today announced that Rorke Data, a subsidiary of Bell Microproducts, (NASDAQ: BELM) has signed a reseller agreement for its AVALONidm intelligent data management software. According to Michael Wilke, Avalon Director of Marketing Operations and Channels, the agreement reflects the industry’s need for increasingly tighter integration between software and hardware as well as the expertise to deliver complete solutions. Through Rorke Data, customers have a single point for acquiring a fully integrated AVALONidm solution including storage, servers and professional services.

“Broadcasters seeking to extract the maximum value from their digital media assets require highly integrated hardware/software solutions that can be engineered to the specific customer application,” Wilke said today. “Rorke Data can provide broadcasters with both the expertise to design a system to meet their needs and the wherewithal to deliver a turnkey storage solution. Today’s announcement makes tremendous sense from a distribution, product and customer perspective.”

Commenting on the announcement, Joe Rorke, Vice President of Marketing, Rorke Data said today, “Rorke Data and Avalon share a similar vision for storing, accessing and distributing data across the broadcast enterprise. We also share many customers in the global broadcast community. It is for these reasons that this reseller agreement has evolved. We look forward to working closely with Avalon and our customers to take this relationship to the next level and to help deliver on the promise of the integrated workflow model.”

AVALONidm is a policy driven intelligent data storage management solution that allows broadcasters to model data workflow according to operational needs. Through the combination policies configured in the Avalon Data Manager and the powerful features set provided by the Avalon Storage Managers (tape, DVD, and disk), data can be managed to best meet customer service levels. AVALONidm optimizes customer investments in storage systems by managing data across multiple storage technologies whether that is on high performance storage subsystems for high availability or in more cost effective storage devices for deep archive material. Other AVALONidm features facilitate time-critical data requests, automatic data replication and sophisticated error reporting for improved business efficiency.

At IBC 2003, Avalon is emphasizing both their file system interface and open API to allow partners and customers greater flexibility in storing data. AVALONidm is shipping with Console the latest release of the graphical user interface that provides ease of use for monitoring, administering and controlling the entire data storage management system. Available too, is the AVALONidm WAN Manager which allows files to be transferred automatically anywhere over a network, providing an effective means for data distribution and remote replication.

Also at IBC, AVALONidm is reinforcing its storage management support for EMC’s CLARiiON with ATA —the world’s only system with integrated ATA and Fibre Channel disk drives and Centera Content Addressed Storage solution designed to meet the unique requirements of fixed content management and DVD RAM to its list of qualified storage devices.

About Rorke Data
Rorke Data is a full digital storage solutions provider with expertise in Fibre-Channel RAID, SAN, DVD, tape and optical libraries, Unix, NT and Mac environments, high bandwidth networks, digital asset and document management, and engineering and maintenance services. Founded in 1985, Rorke Data, together with its European subsidiary, Rorke Data Europe, located in Emmen, The Netherlands, is composed of six divisions: Medical Archive Applications, Audio/Video, Prepress, Imaging, Document Management, Engineering and Installation Services. More information about Rorke Data can be found at www.rorke.com. Rorke Data is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts, Inc. (NASDAQ: BELM).

About Avalon:
The Avalon European headquarters is located in Ireland at IDA Industrial Estate, Ovens, Co. Cork. The local phone number is +353 (0) 21 493 8097.

EMC Avalon Product Division supplies intelligent data storage management software to the broadcast industry and is ideally suited for a growing number of other vertical markets and IT environments. For more information www.emc.com.

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