SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2000--Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL), a technology leader in tape backup products, today announced that it has selected Seagate Technology Inc.'s (NYSE:SEG) groundbreaking Linear Tape Open, or LTO(a) technology tape drives for Overland's next-generation automated storage solutions.
Overland plans to integrate Seagate's new Viper(a) 200 drives, based on the LTO technology Ultrium(a) format into Overland's comprehensive line of award-winning automated storage solutions, from the company's entry-level loaders to its high-end libraries with more than 100 cartridges.
The first product available from Overland with the Viper 200 drives, the LTO LoaderXpress(TM), establishes new standards for capacity, performance and reliability and combines the high reliability of Seagate's Ultrium format and Overland's field-proven Mainframe-Class robotics technology, which has earned close to 20 editorial excellence awards.
LTO technology is an "open format" technology, in which multiple products will be available from multiple sources. The "open" nature of LTO technology also provides a means of enabling compatibility between different vendors' offerings. Its growing market support has continued to attract key storage industry leaders.
"As a major supplier of tape technology, Seagate is recognized for its excellence in both product and processes, and like Overland, is committed to quality and reliability," said Steve Richardson, vice president marketing at Overland. "LTO's performance and reliability is a natural choice for Overland customers since it is uniquely positioned for midrange applications, and we are convinced that Seagate will help drive the LTO marketplace.
"We are excited to bring LTO technology into the Overland product lineup and to further expand on our customer promise of bringing the most advanced tape automation solutions to market."
"We are pleased that Overland has chosen Seagate for its LTO drives and believe the combination of our Viper 200 drives and Overland's tape automation technology will provide a new standard in tape drive capacity, reliability and performance," said Kevin Perry, executive director of marketing and business development, Seagate Removable Storage Solutions. "Seagate Technology and Overland Data are committed to developing storage solutions that will surpass today's standards for tape capacity and performance."
"The alliance between Overland Data and Seagate provides an excellent framework to launch LTO," said Bob Amatruda, senior analyst, Tape and Removable Storage at IDC. "Both companies are well positioned in the burgeoning tape automation market."
Seagate's Viper 200 has been engineered as a best-in-class drive with the highest announced data transfer rate of up to 115.2 GB per hour (compressed) and a compressed per-cartridge capacity of up to 200 GB.
Overland's LoaderXpress automation platform was the first product to deliver enterprise tape automation for the price of a standalone drive. When equipped with a Viper 200 drive, the LoaderXpress provides up to 2 TB of unattended storage capacity backed by the extreme reliability of the company's Mainframe-Class robotics.
Seagate and Overland have partnered in the past, with Seagate licensing Overland's VR2 technology, which significantly increases the capacity and performance of linear tape drives.
About Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology Inc. is a leading provider of technology and products enabling people to store, access and manage information. The company is committed to providing best-in-class products to help people get information when, where and how they want it.
Seagate is the world's largest manufacturer of disc drives, magnetic discs and read-write heads; an innovator in tape drives; and a leading developer of Enterprise Information Management software. For automated news, stock and financial information by phone, dial toll-free 877/SEG-NYSE. Outside the United States and Canada, dial 760/704-4368.
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 (VR2(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.
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.
For Seagate: This news release includes forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, decreased product demand and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Actual results may differ materially from management expectations.
For 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 "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.
(a) A trademark or trade name of an entity other than Overland Data.
CONTACT: Overland Data
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
Seagate Technology
Dan Miller, 714/966-4743
daniel_e_miller@notes.seagate.com
Woody Monroy, 831/439-2838
woody_monroy@notes.seagate.com
or
JPR Communications
Judy Smith, 818/386-0403
jprcommun@aol.com
http://www.jprcom.com
