News Release

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2001--Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL), a technology leader in automated tape backup products, today introduced the LibraryXpress(TM) Neo Series, incorporating the third generation of Overland's expandable, modular robotics, and the first library to provide a guaranteed 99.999% uptime and to take advantage of the increased performance and capacity of the new "super drives."

The LibraryXpress Neo Series' unique Distributed Robotic Architecture(TM) (DRA(TM)) sets a new standard for high availability and reliability in tape library design, and offers unprecedented storage density. DRA architecture provides separate robotics for each library module that forms a multi-module Neo Series system.

The Neo Series features redundant hot-swappable drives, power supplies, robotics and displays, eliminating any single point of failure and providing unprecedented uptime. Redundant components can be activated locally, remotely through a Web browser, or automatically through scripting to achieve continuous availability.

Less than 10 inches high, the compact form factor Neo Series LXN 2000 module is available with mixed-media format, including DLT(a) 8000, Super DLT(a) and/or LTO(a) (Linear Tape Open) Ultrium(a) drives to provide the utmost in compatibility, capacity, performance and density. When configured with 16 drives, the Neo Series system is scalable from 1 TB to 24 TB native capacity and 21.6 GB/hour to 460.8 GB/hour native performance.

The Neo Series features a unique Virtual Interface Architecture(TM) (VIA(TM)) option bay. Based upon the industry standard Compact PCI bus, the VIA expansion slots allow for customized library capabilities. An optional Fibre Channel interface is available to connect to Storage Area Networks and incorporates the support of LAN-free and server-free backup on all major backup software packages.

"Overland's Distributed Robotic Architecture, the third generation of our expandable, flexible SmartScale Storage(R) robotics, creates a revolutionary fault-tolerant tape automation solution, bringing high availability down to midrange servers," said Overland Vice President of Marketing Steve Richardson.

"Overland's reputation in advanced robotics and bulletproof reliability has once again been confirmed with the Neo Series, allowing Overland to offer a new 99.999% uptime guarantee on this product. We feel that this product sets a new standard in high availability for enterprise-class tape automation."

The Neo Series third-generation DRA Architecture builds on the installed base of more than 40,000 LibraryXpress users worldwide, and like its predecessors, eliminates the physical limitations of conventional tape library designs. The flexible modular design of the Neo Series LXN2000 supports two drives and 30 media slots. Up to eight LXN2000 modules may be configured into one Neo Series library system for a total multi-module configuration of 16 drives and 240 media slots in an industry-standard rack.

User-friendly library controls add to the ease of administration. The Neo Series features a touch-screen control panel, remote management, convenient cartridge magazines, a barcode reader and a mail slot.

All Overland products are backed by the company's innovative Guaranteed Up Time Service (GUTS(TM)) warranty program guaranteeing 99% uptime performance and 100% data recovery, the only guarantee of its kind in the industry. The Neo Series in high-availability configurations will be guaranteed at 99.999% uptime.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for the Neo Series starts at around $23,000. Shipments of the Neo Series are anticipated to begin late calendar Q1.

About Overland

Overland Data Inc. 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 the standard 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 (VR2(TM)) data encoding technology, capable of substantially increasing the capacity and throughput of linear tape formats, is being applied by the company to its entry-level tape drive offerings. It has also been licensed to Imation Corp., Seagate Technology, StorageTek and Tandberg Data.

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

(a) A trademark or trade name of an entity other than Overland.

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 "believes," "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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