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March 13, 2000


Greg Dahl
3814 Upton Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55410


Dear Greg:

On behalf of Tricord Systems, Inc., I am pleased to extend to you the following
offer to join the Tricord Team as Vice President of Marketing and Business
Development of the Company. This offer is subject to your acceptance and
approval by Tricord's Board of Directors. This offer letter is not an employment
contract, and you will be deemed an at-will employee of Tricord.

Set forth below are the terms of your employment:

         1.   Your employment will commence on March 14th, 2000. During your
              employment with the Company, you will make yourself available to
              perform such duties, consistent with your other business and
              employment activities, as may be agreed to by the Chief Operating
              Officer of the Company and you.

         2.   Your base salary in connection with such employment will be
              $150,000 per year. Tricord's pay periods are the 15th and the end
              of the month. You will be eligible for a bonus of up to 5% of your
              base pay for the year 2000, and up to 20% of your base pay for
              each year thereafter, subject to performance objectives to be set
              by the Chief Operating Officer. This bonus will be paid annually
              for the year 2000 within 60 days after the end of the calendar
              year and quarterly for each year thereafter.

         3.   You will be granted, effective as of the date you commence
              employment, an incentive stock option (the "Option") to purchase
              250,000 shares (the "Option Shares") of the Company's common stock
              at an exercise price equal to the closing bid price of the common
              stock on the first trading day prior to the date you commence
              employment. You should note, however, that the number of shares
              subject to the Option that will actually qualify for incentive
              stock option tax treatment will be limited by the provisions of
              the Internal Revenue Code. The Option will be granted under the
              terms of the Company's 1998 Stock Incentive Plan (the "1998 Plan")
              and the standard form of option agreement thereunder. The Option
              will become exercisable in 37 installments as follows: (i) 25% of
              the Option Shares will become exercisable 12 months after the date
              of grant; and (ii) 75% of the Option Shares will become
              exercisable in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter (i.e.,
              approximately 2.083% of the Option Shares for each full month of
              continuous service thereafter).

         4.   You agree to execute prior to commencing employment the Company's
              standard form of nondisclosure/confidentiality agreement and to
              abide by the terms of such agreement.

         5.   Pursuant to authority granted under Section 13.3 of the 1998 Plan
              and the proviso at the end of Section 13.5 of the 1998 Plan, in
              the event that your employment with the Company is terminated
              within 24 months following a Change in Control of the Company as a
              result of death, disability, termination by the Company without
              "cause" (as defined in the 1998 Plan) or resignation by you for
              "good reason" (which is defined as a significant reduction or



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              reassignment of your responsibilities, a reduction in your base
              salary or requiring you to be based more than 30 miles from where
              your office is located prior to a Change in Control of the
              Company), (i) your Option (to the extent held at least six months
              from the date of grant) will become immediately exercisable in
              full as of such termination and will remain exercisable for the
              remainder of its term and (ii) the limitation on such acceleration
              of exercisability set forth in Section 13.5 of the 1998 Plan will
              only be applied to the extent that the application of such
              limitation would result in the receipt by you, on an after-tax
              basis, of a greater amount than if such limitation had not been
              applied.

         5.   If your employment with the Company is terminated without "cause"
              (as such term is defined in the 1998 Plan), you will receive a
              lump sum cash payment equal to six months of your then current
              base salary.

         6.   You represent that neither commencing employment with the Company
              nor performing your duties on behalf of the Company will conflict
              with, constitute a breach under, or give any third party rights to
              Company intellectual property pursuant to, any agreement, contract
              or other arrangement to which you are subject.

         7.   You agree that at no time will you use any trade secrets or other
              intellectual property of your current employer or any other third
              party while performing your duties for the Company.

As an employee, you will have the opportunity to participate in the Tricord
Employee Benefit Package, subject to eligibility requirements of the various
plans.

Please indicate your acceptance of this offer by signing and returning this
letter to me. Your employment will be effective upon approval by the Board of
Directors.

I am confident that you will make a significant contribution to the success and
growth of Tricord, and we are looking forward to having you on the Tricord Team.

Very truly yours,

/s/ Joan M. Wrabetz

Joan M. Wrabetz


ACCEPTANCE:

/s/ Greg Dahl
--------------------------------
Greg Dahl

March 14, 2000




DATE OF BOARD APPROVAL:                , 2000