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BlueArc Announces Mike Gustafson as President

Storage executive with proven record of success to strengthen sales and marketing leadership at a time of accelerated customer base and revenue growth

SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 15th, 2004

BlueArc® Corporation, provider of the world's highest performance enterprise-class network storage solutions, today announced the appointment of Mike Gustafson as company president. In his new role, Gustafson will operate in tandem with BlueArc's chairman and CEO Gianluca Rattazzi, managing the company's day-to-day operations while Rattazzi focuses primarily on the company's continued product development and strategy.

Gustafson most recently served as the senior vice president of marketing for McData, where he was a key member of the management team that led McData's initial public offering, global sales expansion and partnership strategy, helping McData gain industry-leading share in the enterprise level storage area network market. During his tenure, McData grew from a fast-growing private entity to a well-respected high-growth public company with more than $400 million in revenue. Prior to McData, Gustafson worked at IBM, where he ran sales for various divisions and was responsible for more than $4 billion in yearly revenue.

"I am excited to join the executive team at BlueArc and be part of a company that has established such a strong position in the market," said Mike Gustafson. "I look forward to using my experience to help lead this company into the next phase of growth and expand BlueArc's customer base, market share and partnerships within the network storage market."

"It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome Mike to BlueArc in his new role as president of the company," said Gianluca Rattazzi, Chairman and CEO of BlueArc. "Mike's direct experience driving the sales and marketing efforts of a storage industry leader, managing it through times of high-growth, and entry into the public markets, will be a tremendous asset to BlueArc. At this time of powerful revenue growth and customer expansion for BlueArc, Mike's unique skills and knowledge of the enterprise storage market will play a critical role in driving BlueArc's success."

About BlueArc Corporation

BlueArc® Corporation changes the economics of network storage by helping customers manage more information with less effort. BlueArc's SiliconServer storage systems enable organizations to maximize performance and reduce operating costs through the movement of software functions into programmable hardware. Since 1998, BlueArc has provided scalable and reliable products, services and solutions to help enterprises achieve unmatched productivity and profitability from their data. The company's headquarters are in San Jose, California with UK operations based in Bracknell, England. More information on BlueArc is available on the Internet at www.bluearc.com.