News Release

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2001--Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL) announced today it has continued its penetration of the highly competitive biotechnology field with Agencourt Bioscience Corporation, a leading provider of genomic services, consumables and integrated automation systems for the life sciences industry.

Huge amounts of DNA sequencing data generated from specialized equipment created a storage challenge to life science researchers at Agencourt, based in Beverly, Massachusetts. The quantity of data produced by Agencourt's sequencing center approximates up to 50 GB each week. The sensitivity and critical nature of the sequencing data made a reliable data protection and archive strategy essential.

"We needed to get a highly robust and proven storage platform for our laboratory system to ensure that the data was not left unprotected," said Steve Shannon, CTO of Agencourt. "Our data integrity and scalability needs were, and continue to be, significant."

Al Conte of Sourcetek Systems, an Overland partner located in New Hampshire, was brought in to evaluate Agencourt's needs including ultra reliability, high transfer rates, high availability and the capability to manage the data generated by Agencourt's sequencing center. Sourcetek recommended Overland's recently introduced high availability Neo Series(TM) LXN2000 tape library.

Agencourt's new Neo Series library was up and running with differential backups performed every eight hours, and a complete weekly backup that enables Shannon to keep Agencourt's sequencing data protected. Two primary internal network systems serve Agencourt's employees and laboratory. A server room provides centralized management of a dozen servers running Windows 2000 and Linux. The employee network consists of 25 computers, and the laboratory system includes 50 computers in a separate, dedicated network that was brought online earlier this year.

Shannon is planning for an increase in Agencourt's data storage needs in the near future when additional sequencers, sequence assembly capabilities and an Oracle ERP system come on line. The ability to handle this planned expansion was a key requisite in the acquisition of the Neo Series library. Additional Neo library modules can be easily added to accommodate the increased amounts of data generated by the new genomic services that Agencourt is adding to its facility.

"The Neo Series has enabled us to manage and protect the critical genomic sequencing data," said Shannon. "The combination of superior results, excellent service and support by Overland and its channel partner Sourcetek Systems will keep us looking forward to doing future business with them as our data needs continue to expand."

"The Neo Series delivered in two key areas for Agencourt -- high reliability and modular expandability -- as it has done for many of our customers in similar environments," said Overland vice president of sales, Chet Baffa. "Overland has grown to understand very well the requirements of enterprises in data-intensive environments such as the biosciences, and our success with these customers has been extremely gratifying as we introduce new products to the market."

LibraryXpress Neo Series

Overland's Neo Series sets a new gold standard for high availability and investment protection by enabling customers to buy exactly what they need today, with the ability to add to the system as their needs change in the future. The Neo Series is the third generation of Overland's SmartScale(R) LibraryXpress product line, which has earned more than two dozen product awards and more than 40,000 installations worldwide.

About Agencourt Bioscience Corporation

Agencourt Bioscience Corporation is a provider of genomic services and products to the life sciences industry. Agencourt provides genomic solutions that help Biotech and pharmaceutical companies improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their drug development pipelines. Several of Agencourt's founders have worked at the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research, and have significant experience in marrying the chemistries and instrumentation for high-throughput genomics. Agencourt is located in Beverly, Mass.

About Sourcetek Systems

Sourcetek Systems, headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., provides Overland Data's complete line of DLT, AIT and LTO loaders and scalable libraries. Additionally, a complete storage solutions provider, Sourcetek Systems offers and supports the full suite of tape and disk storage products including hardware, software and support services.

About Overland

Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL) is a global supplier of innovative data storage and storage automation solutions for computer networks. The Company's reputation for delivering high availability products, as well as its award-winning SmartScale Storage(R) architecture which set the standard for intelligent automated storage and scalability, has established Overland as a leader in the mid-range tape automation market. Overland sells its products worldwide through leading OEMs, commercial distributors, storage integrators and value-added resellers.

Except for the factual statements made herein, the information contained in this press release consists of forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Words and expressions reflecting optimism and satisfaction with current prospects, as well as words such as "believe," "intends," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," and variations thereof, identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include unexpected shortages of critical components, rescheduling or cancellation of customer orders, loss of a major customer, the timing and market acceptance of new product introductions by the Company and its competitors, general competition and price pressures in the marketplace, and the Company's ability to control costs and expenses. Reference is also made to other factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including the "Risk Factors," "Management's Discussion and Analysis" and other sections of the Company's Form 10-K for the most recently completed fiscal year. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release.

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