SAN DIEGO, CA, November 21, 2013 Astute Networks, Inc., the leading provider of Networked Flash appliances, today announced the companys CEO, Bob MacKnight, has been named a bronze winner in the Executive of the Year category in the Best in Biz Awards 2013, the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.

MacKnight was singled out for this prestigious award based upon the companys truly momentous achievements over the past year under his leadership. Recent highlights include the closing of a Series B over-subscribed financing round of $12 million, which was/is to be utilized in capitalizing on the multi-billion dollar flash market opportunity; followed quickly by the launch of the highly anticipated ViSX G4 Flash VM storage appliance. Building on this momentum, the AstuteNET Partner Program was also launched, providing Astutes distributor, reseller, system integrator and service provider channel partners with the product, resources and support necessary to increase their competitive advantage and enhance their trusted advisor status with their end user customer base. Not surprisingly, Astute has added over 35 partners and 2 new distributors since the AstuteNET Partner Program launch.

In addition to enviable growth across its direct customer and strategic channel partner base, Astute Networks has been honored with exponential growth in industry recognition and accolades, including being featured by many of the most well-known and highly respected industry analyst firms research, named to CRNs The 10 Coolest Startups of 2012 listing, named a Storage Magazine Product of the Year Award Finalist, Astutes VP of Sales being recognized as one of UBM Tech Channels CRN Channel Chiefs, named to CRNs 5-Star Partner Program Guide, named a finalist for Red Herrings North America Top 100 Awards, named one of CRNs 10 Coolest Flash Storage Products and named to CRNs Emerging Tech Vendor Listing.

As the demand for Astutes flash storage continues its rapid growth trajectory, Astute has and will continue to grow and develop its greatest asset - its world-class employee base. In fact, the company has opened a brand new sales and marketing headquarters office in the Silicon Valley to accommodate its recent employee-base expansion.

The third annual Best in Biz Awards program, focusing on companies based or operating in North America, was the most competitive in its history, with the highest number of awards submissions to date and the most distinguished judging panel yet assembled. More than 500 entries were received this year, from a wide array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada.

What impressed me the most about the winning entries was the way their business plans were geared toward filling real voids in our communities, said Best in Biz Awards judge Evan S. Benn, staff writer at the Miami Herald. While they all have sound investment platforms, none of the winning plans are get-rich-quick schemes that will only serve investors. They have developed products, tools and ideas that will truly help improve the way we function.

Best in Biz Awards 2013 honors were presented in more than 50 categories, including Company of the Year, Fastest-Growing Company of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Best Place to Work, Technology Department of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Product of the Year, Best New Product of the Year, PR Campaign of the Year and Website of the Year.

It is indeed a personal honor to be recognized as an Executive of the Year for the Best in Biz Awards, said MacKnight. However, it is a true testament to the business benefit and undeniable value consistently being delivered to Astute Networks customers around the world by our award winning ViSX all-flash appliance. He continued, To recognize the promise of cloud and virtualized environments, organizations must find new and effective ways to deliver the application performance that users demand. This is where the ViSX really delivers -- with up to 10 times better performance, at pricing comparable to spinning disk.

The Astute ViSX performance storage appliance was purpose-built to address I/O-intensive applications such as databases, virtualized applications, and virtualized desktops (VDI). ViSX incorporates the patented DataPump EngineTM processor that completely offloads and dramatically accelerates network and storage protocol processing. The combination of a network-optimized flash and an advanced iSCSI and TCP protocol processor eliminates all critical I/O bottlenecks that affect application and VDI performance and delivers unprecedented random IOPS performance and IOPS per dollar. The solution works seamlessly with all virtualization platforms including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, and Red Hat RHEV and complements existing SAN or NAS environments with a non-disruptive, highly optimized solid state flash-based storage tier.

Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2013 were determined by an independent panel of 51 judges from top-tier news, business and technology publications, as well as broadcast outlets and analyst firms, such as Accounting Today, Arizona Daily Star, Atlanta Tribune, Bloomberg Businessweek, Cascade Business News, Chicago Tribune, Chip Design Magazine, Computerworld, Crains New York Business, CRN, Dallas Morning News, Dayton Business Journal, Detroit Free Press, ECT News Network, Entrepreneur, eWeek Channel Insider, Executive Travel Magazine, Fast Company, Financial Times, Fortune, Hartford Business Journal, Hartford Courant, Inc. Magazine, King Features Syndicate, Lab Reviews, Law Technology News, Miami Herald, Memphis Business Journal, Network World, NorthBay Biz, Orange County Register, PC Magazine, Phoenix Business Journal, Pittsburgh Business Times, Prairie Business Magazine, Quad-City Times, Reuters, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Savannah Morning News, Small Business Digest, South Florida Business Journal, Tech.Blorge, Tech-Gaming, Times (Munster, Indiana), Upstart Business Journal and USA Today.

For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2013, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2013-winners.

About Best in Biz Awards
Best in Biz Awards recognizes top companies, teams, executives and products for their business success as judged by established members of the press and industry analysts. Best in Biz Awards honors are conferred in three separate programs annually: North America, EMEA, and International. Entries are currently being accepted in the third annual Best in Biz Awards 2013 EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) program, until the final entry deadline on January 24, 2014. Any organization from any industry operating in EMEA may enter any of the more than 50 company, department or team, executive and product categories. For more information about the entry process and categories in the EMEA program, please visit: http://emea.bestinbizawards.com.

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About Astute Networks
Astute is the leading provider of Networked Flash appliances that accelerate application performance by 10x or more, enhance user productivity and lower IT costs for physical and virtual environments. The companys ViSX family of Networked Flash appliances is based on a 100% solid state flash technology that costeffectively delivers a high number of sustained IOPS to dramatically increase application performance. Powered by its patented DataPump Engine, ViSX overcomes performance limitations by non-disruptively delivering shared performance to all servers and virtual machines over pervasively deployed Ethernet networks. ViSX is available through the companys network of authorized AstuteNet channel partners. For more information, visit www.astutenetworks.com.

Astute Networks, Networked flash, ViSX, DataPump Engine, and FlashWRX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Astute Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Press Contact:
Sabrina Sanchez
The Ventana Group, for Astute Networks
Chantilly, VA
(925) 785-3014
[email protected]
http://www.theventanagroup.com