SanDisk Completes Acquisition of SMART Storage Systems

Appoints John Scaramuzzo as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Storage Solutions

MILPITAS, Calif.--()--SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced it has completed its acquisition of SMART Storage Systems, a developer of enterprise solid state drives based on the SATA and SAS storage protocols.

With the completion of the acquisition, SMART Storage Systems is being combined with SanDisk’s Enterprise Storage Solutions, which will be led by John Scaramuzzo. John has been the President of SMART Storage Systems and is a veteran of the storage industry with more than 25 years of experience at Seagate, Maxtor, Quantum and Digital Equipment Corporation. John assumes the role of senior vice president, enterprise storage solutions, reporting to Sanjay Mehrotra, president and chief executive officer.

“I am delighted to welcome the employees of SMART Storage Systems to SanDisk and to build upon our momentum in the enterprise storage market,” said Mehrotra. “This acquisition enables SanDisk to address a large market opportunity in enterprise SATA products, and complements our strong enterprise SAS product portfolio. With this combination, SanDisk will have enterprise SSDs qualified with six of the top seven storage OEMs worldwide.”

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for commercial and retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory and storage system technologies have provided customers with new and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market. SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers around the world.

SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.

© 2013 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

This news release may contain certain forward-looking information related to the expected benefits of the SMART Storage Systems (SMART) acquisition and our ability to address a large market opportunity in the enterprise space that are based on our current expectations and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate and may significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Risks that may cause this forward-looking information to be inaccurate include among others: we may be unable to successfully develop or qualify SSD solutions that meet our customers’ requirements, and we cannot guarantee that customers will adopt our SSD solutions even if we do; we may not be able to effectively and timely integrate SMART operations, personnel, technologies, products and information systems; we may not be able to realize the expected cost savings or other synergies from the acquisition as expected, in a timely manner or at all; we may not be able to maintain and grow customer relationships required to achieve our anticipated revenue and margins; SMART’s products or technologies may not perform as expected or could fail to meet customer qualification requirements; SMART’s key personnel may decide not to work for us for a long period after the acquisition, or at all; and the other risks detailed from time to time under the caption "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our Annual and Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.

Contacts

SanDisk Corporation
Investor:
Jay Iyer, 408-801-2067
jay.iyer@sandisk.com
or
Brendan Lahiff, 408-801-1732
brendan.lahiff@sandisk.com
or
Media:
Lee Garvin Flanagin, 408-801-2463
lee.flanagin@sandisk.com

Release Summary

SanDisk announced it has completed its acquisition of SMART Storage Systems, a developer of enterprise solid state drives based on the SATA and SAS storage protocols.

Contacts

SanDisk Corporation
Investor:
Jay Iyer, 408-801-2067
jay.iyer@sandisk.com
or
Brendan Lahiff, 408-801-1732
brendan.lahiff@sandisk.com
or
Media:
Lee Garvin Flanagin, 408-801-2463
lee.flanagin@sandisk.com