SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov 3, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- STEC, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEC), The SSD Company(TM), a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and products, today announced a distribution agreement with Newtech Co., Ltd. (JASDAQ:6734). Under the terms of this non-exclusive agreement, Newtech is authorized to distribute all commercially-available STEC solid-state products throughout Japan as standalone solutions or integrated into Newtech storage systems.

The distribution agreement expands STEC's relationship with Newtech and enables the integration of STEC's SSD and PCIe solid-state accelerator (SSA) card portfolio, covering enterprise and embedded applications, into the full range of Newtech storage systems. Newtech is also authorized to distribute STEC's new EnhanceIO(TM) SSD Cache Software, which improves data acceleration while achieving cost-effective user scalability. The EnhanceIO software easily integrates into any existing server infrastructure and works with all commercially-available SSDs, not just those developed by STEC, providing maximum flexibility for deployment.

"The Asia-Pacific region represents another area of dynamic growth for STEC solid-state solutions and Japan continues to have robust demand for high-performance, cost-effective storage technologies," said Scott Stetzer, STEC's Vice President of Technical Marketing. "Signing an authorized distributor agreement with Newtech expands our successful relationship, which also includes a number of STEC SSD product qualifications into Newtech storage systems. This agreement demonstrates the STEC commitment to delivering world-class performance and value to storage platforms across the globe with the help from leading local industry partners in targeted regions."

"STEC has done an outstanding job to bring to market a wide range of solid-state solutions that enable data centers of all sizes to achieve superior access performance as well as enhanced reliability and endurance that is required to support today's mission-critical, throughput-intensive applications," said Kunio Iwata, Vice President and CTO for Newtech Co., Ltd. "We are very excited about expanding our relationship with STEC and the opportunity to distribute superior solid-state storage products with performance levels and enterprise-class reliability that truly exceeds our customers' requirements."

STEC's relationship with Newtech dates back to 2009 when Newtech integrated STEC's MACH8(TM) SSDs for a prominent end-user's RAID video server system. Through this successful venture, Newtech proved to be a very strong and capable partner for STEC in Japan. New solutions introduced by STEC in 2011 have created a variety of opportunities to expand the sales volume of enterprise-class solid-state solutions throughout the region.

For more information regarding STEC SSD and SSA solutions covering enterprise and embedded applications, please visit the company's web site at http://www.stec-inc.com.

About Newtech Co., Ltd.

Newtech Co., Ltd. (JASDAQ:6734), a fabless data storage manufacturer company in Japan, designs and develops data storage enclosures and RAID controllers for general IT, medical ,cloud-computing based hosting services, surveillance cameras, and broadcasting contents delivering systems. The company also provides their products as an OEM to Japanese major electronics and server companies, and includes a leading SSD based RAID storage subsystem product as part of its portfolio. Newtech's Storage Solution sales division focuses on storage virtualization, information lifecycle management (ILM), and continuous data protection (CDP) solutions. In storage virtualization, Newtech has shipped virtualized storage system with capacities over 700TB to major Japanese IP network companies as huge hosting storage farms. The company was founded in 1982 and is based in Tokyo, Japan. In 2002, Newtech Co.,Ltd. completed its IPO with JASDAQ.

About STEC

STEC, Inc., The SSD Company(TM), is a leading global provider of solid-state drive (SSD) technologies and solutions tailored to meet the high-performance, high-reliability needs of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). With headquarters in Santa Ana, California and locations worldwide, STEC leverages almost two decades of solid-state knowledge and experience to deliver the most comprehensive line of SSDs to the storage industry. For more information, visit the company's web site at http://www.stec-inc.com.

The STEC logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1079  

STEC, the STEC logo, The SSD Company, EnhanceIO, and MACH8 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of STEC, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks or brand names referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those statements concerning customer adoption and utilization of Newtech Co., Ltd.'s and STEC's technologies and solutions; expanding distribution channels and improving the availability of STEC solutions, as well as the timeliness and efficiency of STEC product delivery; the benefits from the incorporation of STEC solid-state solutions across Newtech Co., Ltd.'s storage systems; the capabilities and performance of STEC solid-state solutions; and the adoption of STEC solid-state solutions in general into new markets. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. Although STEC believes that the forward looking statements contained in this release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be fulfilled. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by STEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and its Current Reports on Form 8-K. The information contained in this press release is a statement of STEC's present intention, belief or expectation. STEC may change its intention, belief, or expectation, at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors, in STEC's assumptions or otherwise. STEC undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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SOURCE: STEC, Inc.
CONTACT: Scott Harlin
Public Relations Manager
STEC, Inc.
(949) 260-8231
sharlin@stec-inc.com