SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2000--Overland Data, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVRL), a technology leader in tape backup products, today announced that it has begun shipments of DLT1 stand-alone drives as well as automation solutions built around affordable DLT1 technology. This marks another significant move in Overland's corporate strategy to supply a wide range of entry-level to enterprise storage solutions.
The products, originally forecasted to ship in calendar Q2, actually began shipping worldwide in Q1. Overland's standalone 40 GB (native) DLT1 tape subsystem carries a $1495 (MSRP) and the DLT1 award-winning LoaderXpress(TM), creates a 400 GB capacity autoloader solution with sub-$5000 pricing (MSRP).
According to Steve Richardson, Vice President of Marketing for Overland, "Overland customers can now deploy an affordable DLT-based automated solution and take advantage of Overland's award-winning robotics technology that have been verified in thousands of installations worldwide as well. Both Overland and Benchmark are committed to bringing what we believe are excellent storage systems to market that provide significant value. We are pleased that our close working relationship has resulted in achieving that goal earlier than anticipated."
"Benchmark's DLT1 tape drive and Overland's LoaderXpress provide the server market with a powerful and affordable data management solution. Overland's autoloader is an innovative DLT1 solution with 10 cartridge capacity, an award-winning robotic design and the convenience of a media magazine, offering outstanding value in industry-standard DLT technology," said Charlene Murphy, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Benchmark.
The DLT1-based products bring Overland customers economical additions to the company's comprehensive storage solutions and leverage the unprecedented value of the DLT1 format. They open up the robustness and reliability of DLT technology to customers that have previously been limited to 4mm and 8mm products. DLT1 is backward read-compatible with the DLT4000, offering an excellent growth path for current DLT4000 customers. With its full line of AIT, DLT(a) and DLT1 automated solutions, along with its Travan, Ditto and Tecmar tape products, Overland is extremely well positioned to support the range of needs from the entry-level to enterprise environments.
Based on technology licensed from Quantum Corp., the Benchmark DLT1 tape drive offers 80 GB of compressed capacity and a 6 MB/second compressed transfer rate, so small- to medium-sized storage servers or workstations can be backed up on one single tape cartridge. Its soft unload capability was designed specifically for automation. Along with its leading price/performance metrics, the Benchmark DLT1 offers organizations a clear migration path because it is read-compatible with the DLT4000 and utilizes DLTtape(a) IV media.
Overland's LoaderXpress, which CRN called "a cornerstone product for networking VARs," established new standards for DLT loaders in the areas of ease of use, with a convenient cartridge magazine design; customer choice, with three models that address a broad spectrum of storage requirements; and field-proven reliability with mainframe-class robotics technology, benefits which are missing in competitive DLT loaders. With a 10-cartridge capacity model, the DLT1 LoaderXpress delivers native storage capacity that permits the average PC server to be backed up for two months without any operator intervention.
LoaderXpress is supported by the leading data management and backup software applications from Legato, Computer Associates and Veritas on all major computing platforms, including Windows NT(a) Server, Sun Solaris(a), IBM AIX(a), HP-UX(a), Linux and Novell NetWare(a). In addition to the unmatched reliability and value, LoaderXpress customers are protected by Overland's exclusive three-year warranty, the longest in the industry.
Overland DLT products are backed by the company's innovative Guaranteed Up Time Service (GUTS(TM)) warranty program guaranteeing 99 percent uptime performance and 100 percent data recovery, the only guarantee of its kind in the industry. All products are covered by Overland's XchangeNOW program, which provides immediate replacement if an issue cannot be resolved by Overland Technical Support via phone.
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.
(a) DLT and DLTtape are trademarks of Quantum Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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.
CONTACT: Overland Data, Inc., 858/571-5555
Steve Richardson, (Product Information)
srichardson@overlanddata.com
Investor Relations:
Scott McClendon, smcclendon@overlanddata.com
Vernon LoForti, vloforti@overlanddata.com
http://www.overlanddata.com
or
JPR Communications
Judy Smith, 818/386-0403
jprcommun@aol.com
http://www.jprcom.com
