SAN JOSE and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bell Microproducts Inc. , one of the world's largest value-added distributors of storage and computing technology, and NetXen, Inc., a leading provider of breakthrough 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) technology and products, announced today that they have signed a distribution deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Bell Microproducts will distribute NetXen's Intelligent NIC(R) family of products, the industry's first programmable, multi-function networking solutions designed for volume 10GbE markets.

As the IP networking industry heats up, Bell Microproducts reinforces its commitment to staying on the leading edge of the technology and continues to ensure its channel partners have access to the most innovative solutions, including a broad selection of breakthrough 10GbE networking technology options. This partnership with NetXen enables Bell Microproducts to strengthen its 10-Gigabit portfolio by offering cost-effective, flexible NIC solutions that major OEMs have deployed in their mainstream rack, tower and blade server lines.

"The 10GbE market is extremely important to our business from an OEM and reseller perspective," said Gary Gammon, senior vice president of marketing, enterprise products at Bell Microproducts. "As 10GbE solutions are being deployed more and more, we are always looking for new products in this space. NetXen's Intelligent NIC family is an excellent choice that offers programmability and flexibility to evolve with the market and provides an advanced feature set including offload, acceleration and virtualization technologies to support emerging IT initiatives."

NetXen Intelligent NIC products are the only 10GbE solutions on the market that offer both Microsoft TCP Chimney Offload and Linux Sockets Acceleration technologies. These features give end users the ability to maximize the performance and efficiency of their datacenters by handling network and protocol processing on the network controller and freeing up the host CPU for application processing. End users realize cost and energy savings and benefit from the ability to reduce utilization and achieve optimal system performance.

"As one of the industry's most trusted distributors, we are extremely impressed with Bell Microproducts' leadership and expertise in the IP networking space," said Dave Stanton, director of worldwide channel sales for NetXen. "Our Intelligent NIC family offers capabilities essential for handling key network demands driven by the transition to 10GbE, making it an ideal addition to their portfolio. Bell Microproducts and its partners can benefit from the fact that our products are able to evolve, adapt and extend to meet changing IT requirements and enhance datacenter agility."

The full NetXen Intelligent NIC product line is in stock and available for immediate shipment through Bell Microproducts. Please call 1-800-800-1513 or visit http://www.bellmicro.com/ for more information.

About NetXen, Inc.

NetXen, Inc. is a privately held company that manufactures intelligent 10-Gigabit Ethernet networking chips that advance enterprise datacenter performance and agility. Founded in February 2002 by chip design veteran Govind Kizhepat, the company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., with an office in Pune, India. NetXen's protocol- and OS-agnostic Intelligent NIC(R)s are designed for volume 10-Gigabit deployments and are targeted at server, storage, security and networking systems. Additional information about the company and its patented chip architecture is available at http://www.netxen.com/.

All rights reserved. NetXen, the NetXen logo and Linux Sockets Acceleration are trademarks, and Intelligent NIC(R) is a registered trademark of NetXen, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

About Bell Microproducts Inc.

Bell Microproducts is an international, value-added distributor of a wide range of high-tech products, solutions and services, including storage systems, servers, software, computer components and peripherals, as well as maintenance and professional services. An industry-recognized specialist in storage products, this Fortune 1000 company is one of the world's largest storage-centric value-added distributors. In 2006, the company celebrated the sale of its 50 millionth hard disk drive, setting a significant industry milestone.

Bell Microproducts is uniquely qualified with deep technical and application expertise to service a broad range of information technology needs. From design to deployment, its products are available at any level of integration, from components to subsystem assemblies and fully-integrated, tested and certified system solutions. More information can be found in the company's SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts Web site at http://www.bellmicro.com/.

CONTACT: Dena Jacobson of Lages & Associates, +1-408-492-1470,
dena@lages.com, for Bell Microproducts; or Cheryl Patstone of NetXen Inc.,
+1-408-327-1347, cheryl@netxen.com

Web site: http://www.bellmicro.com/
http://www.netxen.com/