CARLSBAD, Calif. and NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 10, 2001 Last week, Dot Hill Systems and Blanchard Systems said they have partnered to offer complete SAN solutions to the pre-press market. Dot Hill's SANnet storage systems have been certified as "best-of-breed'' by Blanchard Systems for its Vortex pre-press solutions. Blanchard will resell and integrate SANnet into Vortex solutions for its customers who include leading printers, pre-press service bureaus and publishers. Blanchard developed Vortex, a system of integrated solutions combining best-of-breed hardware and software that are specifically designed to meet the needs of the pre-press, printing and publishing industry. The company says Vortex not only eliminates bottlenecks in pre-press systems; it also increases clients' efficiencies and enables them to achieve greater profitability. In a statement, Dot Hill's CEO Jim Lambert said, "We believe that SANnet is an excellent fit for Blanchard's Vortex solutions, and we look forward to working with them to offer the best value to their customers. We believe that our expertise with storage area networks and open systems architecture, combined with Blanchard's knowledge of pre-press systems integration, will offer customers an important value-added solution. We are extremely impressed with Blanchard's commitment to and strategic focus on this market. Blanchard is quickly establishing itself as the 'go-to source' for SANs in the pre-press sector.'' Charles Blanchard, Jr., founder and president of Blanchard Systems, said, "At Blanchard, we have extensive experience in providing digital pre-press solutions to the graphic arts industry that increase productivity and automate workflow. Our customers depend on us to use this expertise to offer them the best possible solutions that incorporate open standards. After extensive benchmark testing, we selected Dot Hill's SANnet storage systems to be the recommended ''best-of-breed" storage component for our Vortex pre-press solutions.''