Mannheim, Germany, 03/2002

As one of the world's four McData ATP partners, COMPAREX offers SAN training courses at its Core Competence Center in Edingen near Mannheim. The COMPAREX experts explain how to design, implement, administer and maintain a SAN using practical examples in a heterogeneous SAN environment. The diverse hardware and software equipment in the Core Competence Center, along with McData's extensively product-independent training methods, ensure that the course participants become familiar with SAN technology in conditions that mirror real situations.

During the SAN training courses, the COMPAREX trainers explain how companies with limited resources who are facing growing capacity demands can safeguard the smooth operation of their systems, and how the various Fibre Channel topologies should be evaluated when setting up a SAN. Furthermore, the participants learn how to extend their IT infrastructure seamlessly and how they can protect their information from unauthorised access.

The first training courses at the COMPAREX Core Competence Center (4C2U) have already been booked up. "The opportunity to attend an internationally-recognised training course here in Germany, and receive the training in German, was warmly welcomed", explains Manfred Jakobi, Head of Education Services at the COMPAREX Core Competence Center.

About COMPAREX
COMPAREX is an expert integrator of cost-efficient IT solutions. The group has offices throughout Europe (11 countries) and Southern Africa (3 countries) and employs approximately 5 500 people. COMPAREX is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (CPX) and has an annual turnover of about € 600m, half of which is generated in Europe.

About  McDATA
McDATA (Nasdaq: MCDTA/MCDT) is the worldwide leader in open storage networking solutions and provides highly available, scalable and centrally managed storage area networks (SANs) that address enterprise-wide storage problems. McDATA's core-to-edge enterprise SAN solutions improve the reliability and availability of data to simplify SAN management and reduce the total cost of ownership. McDATA extensively pre-tests its solutions to provide IT organizations with the comprehensive tools, methodologies and support essential to robust SAN implementation. McDATA distributes its products through its OEMs, network of resellers and Elite Solution Partners. McDATA and the McDATA logo are registered trademarks of McDATA Corporation. Further information you will find on the website of the company at www.mcdata.com