Ciprico Reports Q4

MINNEAPOLIS -- Ciprico Inc. (NASDAQ:CPCI) today reported revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter ended September 30, 2007 of $2.2 million, up $0.6 million, or 34%, sequentially. The periods results are in line with the Company’s previous guidance of a 30% increase over its third quarter revenue. Sales for the period were down 22% year-over year. Sales for fiscal year 2007 totaled $8.6 million, a 28% decrease from the prior fiscal year.

“We are pleased with our quarter-over-quarter revenue growth and the initial traction of the RAIDCore™ product,” said Steve Merrifield, chief executive officer. “However, it takes a significant investment of time and resources to move the market from hardware-based products to a new and innovative software technology. More than 80% of our professionals at Ciprico are new in the past 12 months, combine that with the transition to a new product line, and we believe certain year-over-year comparisons are less meaningful given the new direction of the Company.”

The Company continues its transition from a hardware-based business model to one focused on software and solutions. Investments in software development have and are expected to yield significant new products and resulted in a number of key strategic announcements including:

“As we work with our customers, we are even more confident in our strategy,” Merrifield said. “In particular, we are encouraged by the positive response to our RAIDCore software – an enterprise-class, flexible software platform that is well-positioned to replace expensive hardware RAID solutions. RAIDCore evaluation samples are in the hands of a number of potential customers and partners. We are working with these customers to help them accelerate their qualification and design-in process.”

During the fourth quarter sales and marketing resources were added to begin to build the customer and channel partnerships necessary to return Ciprico to profitability. These investments resulted in a net loss for the fourth quarter of $2.8 million, compared to a net loss of $2.5 million in the previous quarter. For the fiscal year the net loss was $8.1 million compared to a loss of $3.7 million in the previous fiscal year.Ciprico Inc.