PRESS RELEASE
Verari Systems™ CEO David Driggers Receives Entrepreneur of the Year Award
By Mike LaPan, (858) 874-3800
SAN DIEGO -- June 22, 2004 -- Verari Systems™, the premier developer of powerful, platform-independent blade server systems, announced today that Co-Founder and CEO David Driggers received the 2004 San Diego Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Award in the High Technology category. A panel of judges comprised of community and business leaders selected Driggers based on his vision, leadership, and business achievement. The award was presented during an evening celebration at the Hilton Torrey Pines on June 16.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year award was created by Ernst & Young to recognize outstanding individuals on a regional, national and global level. Awards are given to entrepreneurs who have demonstrated excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. An independent judging panel consisting of community and business leaders selects the winners.
Under Driggers' leadership, the privately held, San Diego-based company has doubled sales every year for the past three years and has quickly grown to more than 260 employees worldwide. Ranked by IDC as the fifth largest x86 server manufacturer in the United States, over 4000 customers worldwide have chosen Verari Systems' line of high-density blade server clusters, rack-optimized servers and high-performance technical workstations.
"Entrepreneur Of The Year award winners embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and determination needed to achieve success," said Niki Krutop, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program Director for San Diego. "Ernst & Young is proud to recognize and support these leaders and their companies."
Driggers is now eligible for consideration for the 2004 National Entrepreneur Of The Year program. Winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, Calif., in November 2004. The overall national Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner is then considered for the world event held in Monte Carlo.
About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Program
Entering its 18th year, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year is renowned as one of the world's most prestigious business awards for entrepreneurs. Recognized globally in over 100 cities and 35 countries, the award honors the most outstanding entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership, and achievement.
About Verari Systems
Verari Systems, Inc. is the premier developer of powerful, flexible and scalable platform-independent blade-based compute and storage solutions that are defining a new era in enterprise and high performance utility computing for the data center. Organizations such as Akamai, CGGVeritas, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Qualcomm and Sony Imageworks, as well as top universities and research institutions worldwide, are among the customers who have chosen Verari Systems' line of high density blade servers, modular storage blades, rack-optimized servers and award-winning software solutions. To learn more about Verari Systems and its unique solutions, please visit us on the web at http://www.verari.com or call (888) 942-3800.
The Verari Systems logo and Verari Systems are trademarks or registered trademarks of Verari Systems, Inc.
Entrepreneur Of The Year and logo are registered service marks of Ernst & Young LLP.
