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Overland Elects Robert A. Degan, Networking Industry Veteran, to Board of Directors

March 6, 2000

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2000--Overland Data, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL) today announced that Robert A. Degan, a highly successful and experienced data communications networking industry executive, has been elected to the company's board of directors.

Degan fills the board position left vacant following the death in late 1999 of former Overland board member William W. Otterson.

Over his career, Degan has held top-executive and board positions with numerous private and public technology companies. Most recently, Degan served as general manager of Cisco Systems' Enhanced Services and Migration Unit, formerly Summa Four, Inc. prior to its acquisition by Cisco in 1998. Previously, Degan had served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Summa Four, a leading provider of open, programmable switching platforms that enable telecommunications service providers worldwide to build intelligent, flexible networks that support rapid development of new wireline and wireless services.

Prior to Summa Four, Degan served as president, chief executive officer and director of Tylink Corporation, Amnet, Inc., Data Switch Corporation, Applied Digital Data Systems, and Periphonics Corporation. He currently serves on the board of directors of Lancast, Inc. and Gensym Corporation. Degan is a former member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology research staff and a former member of the American Electronics Association CEO Roundtable Council.

Degan said that joining the Overland board of directors at a time when storage is a key issue at every corporation with the advent of the Internet is an opportunity he could not miss. "I am looking forward to working with the Overland board to help the company take advantage of the phenomenal market opportunities and continue their growing success."

"We are pleased to announce the addition of Robert Degan to Overland's board of directors," stated Scott McClendon, president and chief executive officer of Overland. "Bob has been recently active in the networking and data communications business, so he brings a fresh and current perspective to Overland. Given his years of experience in top management positions, we expect that Bob will provide valuable and insightful guidance and leadership on the board at a time when Overland is actively pursuing growth opportunities in the data storage backup market. We look forward to benefiting from his added knowledge and energy on the board, and from his practical and highly relevant experience."

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 award-winning DLT LibraryXpress(TM) SmartScale Storage(R) architecture has set new standards for intelligent automated storage and scalability and established Overland as a leader in the mid-range tape storage market.

Today, Overland is broadening its product line and technology offerings to address additional segments of the storage market, including the entry-level small-business market, as well as the higher-end enterprise environment. Overland's patented Variable Rate Randomizer (VR_(TM)) data encoding technology, capable of substantially increasing the capacity and throughput of linear tape formats, is being applied by the company to Travan tape drives, and has been licensed to Seagate Technology, Tandberg Data and Imation Corp. for inclusion in their next-generation tape drives.

Overland products, acclaimed for their quality and reliability, are sold worldwide through leading OEMs, including Compaq, IBM, Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Groupe Bull, commercial distributors such as Ingram Micro, Tech Data Corp. and Bell Microproducts, as well as storage integrators and value-added resellers.

Except for the factual statements made herein, the information contained in this news 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, the company's ability to control costs and expenses as well as its ability to successfully execute its strategy for growth in the storage backup market. 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.

     CONTACT:  Overland Data, San Diego
               858/571-5555
               http://www.overlanddata.com
               Steve Richardson (product information)
                    srichardson@overlanddata.com
               Scott McClendon (investors)
                    smcclendon@overlanddata.com
               Vernon LoForti (investors)
                    vloforti@overlanddata.com
                         or
               JPR Communications
               Judy Smith, 818/386-0403
                    jprcommun@aol.com
                    http://www.jprcom.com