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Overland Storage Introduces ULTAMUS SERIES of Protected Primary Storage Appliances

October 24, 2005
 Industry Leader the First to Deliver Three Tiers of Simply Protected Storage
                                  Solutions

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delivering on its vision of protecting data across all tiers of storage, Overland Storage, Inc. (Nasdaq: OVRL) today introduced the ULTAMUS SERIES(TM) of protected primary storage appliances at Storage Networking World. Offering enterprise-class primary storage without the cost or complexity of traditional systems, the ULTAMUS SERIES rounds out Overland's award-winning portfolio of solutions, which includes disk-based backup and recovery appliances for secondary storage, and tape automation appliances for long-term archiving. With the addition of ULTAMUS with Protection OS(TM), Overland Storage is the first company to provide cost-effective, end-to-end data protection solutions designed for mid-range environments.

The introduction of the ULTAMUS SERIES follows Overland's acquisition of software vendor Zetta Systems in August. The powerful features of Zetta's software form the heart of the ULTAMUS Protection OS, which is the embedded intelligence layer that sets the ULTAMUS apart. With built-in data protection and simplified capacity management, ULTAMUS with Protection OS delivers advanced features including high availability, snapshots, remote and local replication, virtualization, and thin provisioning. These features allow customers to reliably store, quickly protect, instantly recover and cost-effectively manage their business-critical data.

"As our channel partners can attest, small- and medium-sized customers are looking for a single, trusted source for a full range of storage solutions that not only ensure the safety of their data, but also decrease the cost and complexity of their storage environments. With ULTAMUS, Overland becomes the first company to address this unmet market need," said Christopher Calisi, president and CEO, Overland Storage. "Only Overland delivers three tiers of smart data protection appliances and software modules designed to work together, affordably, to ensure that information is automatically safe, readily available and always there. This is the essence of our protected storage strategy, and we're very pleased to bring an integral piece of it, the ULTAMUS SERIES, to market."

"Ensuring effective data protection and rapid application recovery are becoming critical concerns for many small- and mid-sized businesses as they deal with new customer and regulatory requirements," said Richard Villars, vice president of storage systems research, IDC. "Solutions that address this need must provide full functionality, but be packaged in ways that address mid-sized companies' concerns about up-front costs, ease of deployment, and ease of management. Overland, with its broad portfolio of storage offerings including the new ULTAMUS product line, is in a good position to meet these companies' requirements."

Easily deployed in either an Ethernet (iSCSI) or Fibre Channel storage area network, the ULTAMUS SERIES combines up to two storage processors, or servers, with as many as four 8 TB expansion arrays, for up to 32 TB of raw storage capacity. The storage processors include embedded Protection OS software, which delivers enterprise-class features including snapshot, replication, virtualization, high availability and thin provisioning. The expansion array offers RAID 5 as well as redundant, hot swappable components, providing an added level of data protection.

The ULTAMUS I, which is configured with a single storage processor, is ideal for businesses seeking reliable storage with built-in data protection. For organizations that require uninterrupted access to critical data, the ULTAMUS II offers two storage processors with active/active failover, ensuring no single point of failure.

"As a digital printing and promotional items company, Electronic Printing Solutions has vast amounts of data. In fact, we use direct-attached storage to store large customer files indefinitely, so the minute our customers need something, we can deliver," said Grant Freeman, president, Electronic Printing Solutions. "We've been using the ULTAMUS as a beta customer, and we're thrilled to finally have a reliable, scalable and easy-to-manage solution that allows us to consolidate and protect critical data."

"We've had the opportunity to put an ULTAMUS protected storage appliance through its paces, and we're thoroughly impressed," said Dave Holloway, executive vice president, West Coast Technologies. "Features like snapshot and replication provide powerful data protection at an affordable price, while virtualization and thin provisioning ease administrative headaches and reduce total cost of ownership. Best of all, ULTAMUS is from one of the most trusted names in the industry -- and the only one offering a full range of tiered storage solutions -- which means customers can buy with confidence."

     Key Features and Benefits

      - Patent-pending snapshot technology allows data to be quickly protected
        and instantly recovered without using traditional backup software or
        servers.  Snapshots can be taken as often as every minute for
        virtually any-point-in-time recovery.

      - Replication allows data to be copied within a single ULTAMUS appliance
        or to an ULTAMUS located remotely, making it ideal for disaster
        recovery.  Block-level replication maximizes available bandwidth and
        encryption provides added security.

      - Virtualization enables multiple physical devices to appear as a single
        pool of storage that can be easily managed, modified and shared.
        Thin provisioning takes the guesswork out of capacity allocation and
        planning.  It ensures that all physical capacity is fully utilized
        before purchasing additional storage, enabling just-in-time capacity
        upgrades.

      - High availability is assured through redundant, hot-swappable core
        components and RAID 5 protection with dual controllers.  In ULTAMUS
        II, dual storage processors provide an added level of availability
        with active/active failover.

    Pricing and Availability

The ULTAMUS is available from Overland partners worldwide at a starting MSRP of $49,995.

About Overland Storage

Now in its 25th year, Overland Storage is a market leader and innovative provider of simply protected storage solutions -- smart data protection appliances and software modules designed to work together, affordably, to ensure that information is automatically safe, readily available and always there. Overland's award-winning data protection solutions include the ULTAMUS SERIES(TM) of protected primary storage appliances; the REO SERIES(TM) of disk-based backup and recovery appliances; and the NEO SERIES(R) of tape libraries. Overland sells its products through leading OEMs, commercial distributors, storage integrators and value-added resellers. For more information, visit Overland's web site at www.overlandstorage.com

Overland, Overland Storage, REO SERIES, NEO SERIES, ULTAMUS and Protection OS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Overland Storage, Inc.

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," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "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 risks and uncertainties associated with the company's acquisition of Zetta Systems, Inc., including possible integration difficulties and successful execution of the business plan; possible delays in new product introductions by the company including the next generation tape library platform and enhancements to its REO line; market acceptance of the company's new product offerings; the timing and market acceptance of new product introductions by competitors; the speed at which HP transitions from the products it currently buys from the company to its next-generation products to be purchased from another vendor; delays, unbudgeted expenses, inefficiencies and production problems; worldwide information technology spending levels; unexpected shortages of critical components; rescheduling or cancellation of customer orders; loss of a major customer; the timing and amount of licensing royalties; general competition and price pressures in the marketplace; the company's ability to control costs and expenses; and general economic conditions. 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.


SOURCE Overland Storage, Inc.
CONTACT:
Melinda Hutcheon,
PR Manager of Overland Storage, Inc.,
+1-858-495-4187,
mhutcheon@overlandstorage.com,

or Jamie Ernst of Brodeur,
+1-210-495-5757,
jernst@brodeur.com,
for Overland Storage, Inc.
Web site: http://www.overlandstorage.com
(OVRL)