NetWorld Interop 99
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 1999--Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq/NMS:OVRL), a technology leader in data storage and backup products, Tuesday announced that it has certified its full product line of tape automation solutions for Storage Area Network (SAN) compatibility.
Overland said it has completed testing on its LibraryXpress(TM),
MinilibraryXpress(TM), LoaderXpress(TM) and soon-to-be-announced
enterprise storage solution to verify that all products are
Fibre-Channel capable to operate in SAN environments with selected
third-party hardware and software solutions. These solutions will be
demonstrated for the first time at Networld+Interop, Booth No. 6707.
The announcement of full product line support for SAN operations
completes the first phase in Overland's Fibre Channel Connectivity
Initiative announced late last year, committing the company to an open
connectivity model that would allow customers to use their current
Overland library investment with their choice of approved third-party
Fibre Channel product to create SAN-capable libraries.
According to Steve Richardson, vice president of Marketing at
Overland, the company's decision to provide SAN support across the
full product line, instead of limiting Fibre Channel connectivity to a
few new models as other library vendors have, is consistent with
Overland's ground-breaking efforts in delivering scalable library
solutions based on the award-winning SmartScale Storage(TM)
architecture.
Extending the scalable solutions paradigm to library connectivity
is a logical step in maximizing the customer's value of their
investment in Overland solutions, he said.
Supporting an open SAN platform provides additional customer
value by providing access to a variety of third-party SAN hardware and
software options, instead of locking customers into the limitations of
proprietary SAN solutions that are now being marketed.
Richardson acknowledged the SAN market is still in an
evolutionary phase, but said that with the efforts of organizations
such as the Storage Networking Industry Association, the industry has
coalesced around a core group of vendors and a maturation of standards
-- such as the SCSI copy command, the Network Data Management Protocol
software support -- the timing is right for Overland to move forward
with open-standard SAN solutions.
"At this early stage of development, the flux and volatility that
characterize the SAN market can only be mitigated by a strict
adherence to standardization," said Richardson.
"Overland's support for an open SAN architecture allows our
customers to keep pace with the evolution of standardized products
from multiple vendors to ensure they have access to the latest
technology in competitive pricing environments."
"The SAN market has reached critical mass with wide acceptance of
de-facto standards proposed by the SNIA," said Michael Peterson,
president of market research firm Strategic Research and founder of
the Storage Networking Industry Association.
"This is a crucial period for companies to develop strategic
partnerships that will strengthen the support for standardization and
speed the development of interoperable multivendor SAN solutions."
A Storage Area Network is a separate computer network, typically
based on high-speed Fibre Channel connections that link storage
devices, including RAID storage and automated tape libraries, to a
heterogeneous set of servers on a nondedicated basis, meaning that any
server can access any storage device on the SAN.
A SAN can also enable direct storage-to-storage connectivity. In
addition to the performance and availability advantages of SANs, the
architecture also streamlines the administration of storage resources,
addressing perhaps the most critical issue facing IT managers -- how
to control storage management costs.
A study by market research firm International Data Corp.
estimates that a single storage administrator can manage 7.5 times
more data on a SAN than on a decentralized storage system.
Overland is working with the top tier of vendors to ensure that
all the critical pieces are in place to operate with a total open
solution.
For example, Overland is participating as part of Veritas'
Intelligent Network Attached Storage Device program, allowing Overland
libraries to be deployed on a SAN and leveraging Veritas' software to
enable breakthrough SAN applications such as serverless backup by
performing direct disk-to-tape backup.
About Overland
Overland is a global supplier of storage automation solutions and
related technologies designed to meet and surpass the critical
requirements of high-availability network computing environments, from
entry level to the enterprise.
The company is a recognized leader in technology innovation for
such achievements as the award-winning DLT(a) LibraryXpress SmartScale
Storage(TM) architecture that establishes new standards for
intelligent automated storage and scalability, and the patented (No.
5,815,514) Variable Rate Randomizer (VR2(TM)) data encoding technology
that can significantly increase the capacity and throughput of linear
tape formats.
Overland has also earned a worldwide reputation for unmatched
product quality and innovative warranty programs such as the
Guaranteed Up Time Service (GUTS(TM)) Program that dramatically reduce
the total cost of ownership. The company's award-winning products meet
the critical needs of end users, distributors and OEMs in industries
worldwide.
(a) DLT is a claimed trademark of Quantum Corp. worldwide
--30--MT/la* LES/la
CONTACT: Overland Data Inc.
619/571-5555
http://www.overlanddata.com
Steve Richardson (product information)
srichardson@overlanddata.com (e-mail)
Scott McClendon (investors)
smcclendon@overlanddata.com (e-mail)
Vernon LoForti (investors)
vloforti@overlanddata.com (e-mail)
or
JPR Communications
Judy Smith, 818/386-0403
jprcommun@aol.com (e-mail)
http://www.jprcom.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED PRODUCT TRADESHOW
