San Jose, Calif. — January 20, 2004— Alacritech®, Inc., the innovator of data acceleration solutions that enable the highest performance and efficiency in networked systems, today announced it has further strengthened its presence in Asia through a sales and distribution agreement with Hong Kong-based MacDragon Technologies Ltd. MacDragon Technologies Ltd. will now provide Alacritech’s leading TCP Offload Engine (TOE) Network Interface Card (TNIC) solutions to equipment manufacturers in China developing servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and iSCSI storage devices, and to resellers serving enterprise end users running data intensive applications.

“Our distribution partnership with MacDragon is critical in providing Chinese equipment manufacturers with the TCP/IP acceleration technology they need to build competitive systems,” said Larry Boucher, president and CEO of Alacritech, Inc. “MacDragon’s broad relationships, and in-depth technical service and support capabilities makes them an ideal partner to help Alacritech capitalize on the large market opportunity in China.”

MacDragon Technologies Ltd. was founded as a joint venture between Macnica, Inc., a leading Japanese IT distributor and Hong Kong-based Dragon Technology Distribution Co. Ltd. to provide only best-in-class technology to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and resellers in China. Extending its successful relationship with Macnica Networks in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, Alacritech will now leverage MacDragon Technologies’ strong Mainland China sales force in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing to make its acceleration technology available to server and storage manufacturers and end users who require optimum performance in network intensive applications such as digital media production and medical imaging.

“Alacritech’s proven SLIC Technology-based products are a key addition to our portfolio,” said Shoichi Kita, president, MacDragon Technologies Ltd. “As a premier information technology distributor, we’re pleased to be providing this proven TCP/IP offload and iSCSI technology to enable equipment manufacturers throughout China to develop highly efficient, next generation systems for their customers.”

About Alacritech Acceleration Technology
As systems and servers move increasing amounts of network data, new solutions are needed to solve both efficiency and throughput challenges. Alacritech Accelerators are a complete line of Gigabit Ethernet and Fast Ethernet TNIC products based on SLIC Technology®, Alacritech’s patented Data Path Offload (DPO) architecture. Alacritech’s SLIC Technology supplements the TCP software control plane with distributed hardware data planes to maximize data movement through Ethernet-based networks. This revolutionary architecture is designed to maximize server and storage performance and efficiency. All Alacritech products offer industry-standard failover and link aggregation.

Availability
Alacritech’s complete line of accelerator products is available through MacDragon Technologies Ltd. in China, and through Macnica Networks Company in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. For more information about MacDragon Technologies Ltd. or Macnica Networks Company, please visit http://www.macdragon.com.hk or http://www.networks.macnica.co.jp.

About MacDragon Technologies Ltd.
Established in 2003, Hong Kong-based MacDragon is a professional sales and technical service corporation focused on providing high-tech semiconductor products and technical service to its customers. The company’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with the quality, depth, and breadth of its knowledge and relationships, assures customers and suppliers that they have chosen the right partner to help them succeed. Its vision is providing an efficient value-added distributor system through superior technical, marketing, sales and inventory management, and being the communication bridge between the customer and supplier. MacDragon has experienced field application engineers in several offices serving the Chinese market, including Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing.

About Alacritech, Inc.
Alacritech, Inc. is the world’s leading supplier of TCP Offload Engine (TOE) solutions that enable the highest performance and efficiency in networked systems. Alacritech’s complete line of Accelerators is based on the company’s patented SLIC Technology to optimize data delivery in servers, network-attached storage and iSCSI storage devices. SLIC Technology, the basis of industry-accepted TOE solutions, ships in storage and server products worldwide. Alacritech is a privately held company based in San Jose, California. For more information about Alacritech and its products, please visit the company’s Web site at www.alacritech.com.

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