Features - Storage Innovations:

MAXTOR, ADAPTEC DRIVE TRANSITION TO ULTRA320 STO SOLUTIONS

Maxtor Corporation, a world leader in hard disk drives and data storage solutions, and Adaptec Inc, a global leader in data storage access solutions, have announced an alliance to ensure the interoperability of Maxtor's high-performance, Atlas 10K III Ultra320 SCSI hard drives and Adaptec's Ultra320 SCSI RAID controllers.

Ultra320 is the next step in the high performance Ultra SCSI interface that transfers data at speeds up to 320 megabytes (MB) per second. This increase enables bandwidth-hungry applications to process graphics and data faster.

Through this alliance, Maxtor and Adaptec will provide select worldwide customers with pre-tested, interoperable Maxtor Atlas 10K III Ultra320 disk drives and Adaptec Ultra320 SCSI RAID controllers. By virtue of this relationship, select Maxtor customers that have already received Atlas Ultra320 drives will be able to receive an Adaptec controller card to complete the qualification of their solution. Resellers may also benefit from the alliance through the availability of pre-tested Ultra320 solutions that are affordable, interoperable, and easy to use across many of today's most demanding applications.

"Maxtor and Adaptec's robust product engineering and development relationship spans more than three SCSI generations, ensuring compatibility between Maxtor's disk drives and Adaptec's SCSI products," said John Joseph, vice president of marketing of Maxtor's Server Products Group. "We are proud of our longstanding relationship and feel it is a testament to our commitment to providing customers with storage solutions they need to be successful."

"Adaptec and Maxtor's interoperable Ultra320 SCSI and RAID products, and robust technical support, will speed migration to these next-generation solutions," said Ahmet Houssein, vice president and general manager of Adaptec's Storage Solutions Group. "Resellers rely on Adaptec and Maxtor to provide proven products that efficiently move, manage and protect large volumes of data and help reduce total cost of ownership for end users."

The Atlas 10K III Ultra320 drives are well suited for high data throughput applications such as streaming multimedia audio and video, video editing, data warehousing, Web servers and RAID arrays. The drive sports a 10,000-RPM rotational speed, blazing-fast 4.5 millisecond (ms) seek time, a large 8 MB cache buffer and a 55 MB-per-second (MB/sec) peak sustained data throughput. It is also the only drive to feature MaxAdapt, Maxtor's unique implementation of adaptive active filtration technology (AAF) in which the drive self adjusts to current or changing system conditions to provide the best possible signal and ensure optimal system performance. All Atlas 10K III SCSI hard drives are offered in industry leading 18GB, 36GB, and 73GB capacities.

Adaptec's Ultra320 SCSI RAID controllers feature data transfer rates up to 320 MB/sec on each channel. This performance increase is especially significant in storage systems performing large data transfers or connecting many drives on a single channel. The controller cards' advanced RAID features include Adaptec's exclusive optimized disk utilization. With this feature, customers can use the full capacity of all drives attached to Adaptec's RAID controllers, regardless of size.

About Adaptec

Adaptec Inc provides highly available storage access solutions that reliably move, manage and protect critical data and digital content. Adaptec's storage solutions are found in high-performance networks, servers, workstations and desktops from the world's leading manufacturers, and are sold through OEMs and distribution channels to ISPs, enterprises, medium and small businesses and consumers. More information is available at www.adaptec.com.

About Maxtor Corporation

Maxtor Corporation is one of the world's leading suppliers of information storage solutions. The company has an expansive line of storage products for desktop computers, storage systems, high-performance servers and consumer electronics. Maxtor has a reputation as a proven market leader built by consistently providing high-quality products and service and support for its customers. Maxtor and its products can be found at www.maxtor.com or by calling toll-free 800-2-MAXTOR.

Contact: Jenifer Kirtland of Maxtor Corporation, 408-324-7056, or jenifer--kirtland@maxtor.com.