SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2000--Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL), a technology leader in tape backup products, today announced that StorageTek(TM) (Storage Technology Corp.) (NYSE:STK), one of the foremost providers of enterprise and network storage, has signed a letter of intent to license Overland's patented Variable Rate Randomizer (VR2(TM)) technology.
While specifics were not disclosed, the companies said that Overland's VR2 technology will be integrated broadly into future offerings of StorageTek's industry-leading 9840 tape drive technology, both access-centric and capacity-centric versions.
A major driving force in the tape storage market, StorageTek is an acknowledged technology leader, consistently bringing innovative products to market.
Already, the 9840 with its "no-compromise" balanced capabilities (which, for the first time in an enterprise-class tape drive, allow high capacity, fast access, extreme reliability and reasonable cost to coexist in heterogeneous environments) has achieved records in terms of market acceptance and adoption rate. The addition of Overland's VR2 will make StorageTek's future product offerings even more compelling and valuable to users.
Overland's VR2 improves code rate efficiency of linear tape drives to more than 99 percent. The unprecedented efficiency of its high code rate increases the native capacity and native data transfer rate performance of existing linear tape technologies by 50 percent to 100 percent without requiring any changes in tape path design, recording heads and/or media.
According to Roger Archibald, StorageTek vice president and general manager, enterprise business group: "We are dedicated to bringing our customers the products they need to meet their fast-growing requirements for higher storage capacity and performance.
"With the addition of VR2, we can achieve that goal, while maintaining reliability, backward compatibility and an attractive price point for future-generation products."
Scott McClendon, president and chief executive officer of Overland, said: "StorageTek and Overland have a common goal to make VR2 an industry standard. StorageTek, by being an early adopter in the enterprise segment, can jump ahead of their competition by utilizing this proven technology.
"We look forward to this technology partnership. With storage requirements exploding in corporations, time to market with next-generation products is a key success factor."
StorageTek is the latest in a list of VR2 licensees that include Seagate, Tandberg Data and Imation.
About StorageTek
StorageTek is one of the pre-eminent providers of network storage. The company's strategy is to help customers enable business growth by removing the inhibitors to managing information growth.
StorageTek provides "Open, Intelligent and Integrated"(TM) solutions that combine storage products, storage management software and storage services to help customers collect, move, store, share and protect all types of digital content on platforms ranging from laptops to enterprise servers.
The company, with headquarters in Louisville, Colo., reported revenue of $2.4 billion in 1999. Information on StorageTek is available at www.storagetek.com, or phone 800/786-7835.
About Overland
Overland Data 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 midrange 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) 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.
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.
Note to Editors:
DLT and DLTtape are registered trademarks of Quantum Corp. worldwide.
The numeral 2 in "VR2" is superscript.
CONTACT: Overland Data Inc., San Diego
858/571-5555
http://www.overlanddata.com
Product information:
Steve Richardson, srichardson@overlanddata.com
Investor-relations information:
Scott McClendon, smcclendon@overlanddata.com
Vernon LoForti, vloforti@overlanddata.com
or
JPR Communications, Encino, Calif.
Judy Smith, 818/386-0403
jprcommun@aol.com
http://www.jprcom.com
