Colorado Springs, CO, February 4, 2013 - Storage industry innovator X-IO Technologies today announced that it has been named as a hardware partner for the worldwide network of Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs). This partnership will allow enterprise customers to test X-IO's ISE intelligent storage elements as part of the high-performance MTC architecture, ultimately facilitating clear technical documentation about the crucial role played by storage in data center performance.

"X-IO is a strong addition to our Alliances Program, providing a unique storage solution that helps users get the most out of their Microsoft deployments," said Chuck McCann, Worldwide MTC Alliances Program Director, Microsoft. "Its ISE solutions have performed very impressively with Microsoft software to date, and we look forward to further testing in our technology centers."

MTCs are collaborative environments that provide Microsoft customers with access to innovative technologies and world-class expertise, enabling them to envision, design, and deploy solutions to meet their exact needs. The MTC Alliances program comprises industry leaders in hardware, software and services who provide their resources to these environments. By working together to create and drive joint initiatives and offerings, the MTCs and their partners provide customers with the newest and most cutting edge products and services during an MTC engagement.

"X-IO is delighted to expand our already robust working relationship with Microsoft," said Rick Nelson, VP, X-IO. "This program will clearly demonstrate how X-IO's cost effective, high performance storage plays a critical role in getting the most out of Microsoft's modern operating system, server and productivity software."