Features - Storage Innovations:

QUANTUM ANNOUNCES SUPERLOADER WITH SDLT 320 TAPE DRIVES

Quantum Corp, a leading provider of data protection systems, has announced the availability of the SuperLoader with SDLT 320 drives, representing a major advance in capacity and performance along with the lowest cost per gigabyte of any tape library or autoloader on the market. The SuperLoader with SDLT 320 allows customers to take advantage of unbeatable density, capacity and performance all in a 2U rack mount form factor, lowering total cost of ownership while protecting customers' storage investment.

The SuperLoader is ideal for smaller businesses, remote offices and workgroups, providing data protection through remotely managed and automated backup. Combined with leading backup and recovery software, the SuperLoader allows significant cost savings by consolidating multiple backup targets into a single shared, automated system. By adding SDLT 320 drives, the SuperLoader scales up to 5.12TB (with 2:1 compression) of data protection and transfer rates of 115GB/hour.

The SDLT 320 drive provides backward read compatibility with DLTtape IV media and uses the same Super DLTtape I media as the SDLT 220, preserving the customer's data storage investments. In addition, existing SuperLoader customers can easily upgrade from existing DLT1 or SDLT 220 SuperLoaders to SDLT 320 drives quickly and affordably without a service call.

For IT managers in smaller organizations that are often strained for resources and under intense pressure to keep exploding data volumes protected, the performance-to-cost advantage of the SuperLoader allows them to accomplish more data management tasks in less time, for less total cost of ownership compared to using stand-alone tape devices. In addition, for managers in large organizations with distributed servers, the SuperLoader integrates into their existing infrastructure at the remote office and workgroup levels, allowing them to implement automated, remotely configured and centrally managed data protection throughout the enterprise.

"Quantum is dedicated to enabling our customers to earn the best return on their investment in autoloader technology. The SuperLoader continues to provide the lowest price per gigabyte of backup storage in a compact, 2U rack mount configuration," said Ted Oade, director of product marketing of Quantum's Storage Solutions Group. "Availability of the SuperLoader with SDLT 320 allows our current customers to upgrade to higher performance technology while protecting their original SuperLoader investment."

Availability, Pricing and Support

The SuperLoader with SDLT 320 is available for purchase today from Quantum's network of value added resellers as well as leading distributors such as Arrow Electronics, Bell Microproducts, Ingram Micro and Tech Data at a manufacturer's suggested list price starting at $11,000. The SuperLoader comes with a three-year Rapid Exchange and 5x9 hardware telephone technical support. Optional 5x9 Next Day on-site service and installation agreements are also available. Further information on our product warranty is available at www.quantum.com.

About Quantum

Quantum Corp, founded in 1980, is a global leader in data protection, meeting the needs of business customers with enterprise-wide storage solutions and services. Quantum is the world's largest supplier of tape drives, and its DLTtape technology is the standard for backup, archiving, and recovery of mission-critical data. Quantum is also a leader in the design, manufacture and service of automated tape libraries used to manage, store and transfer data. This year, the company expanded into the area of disk-based backup, with a solution that emulates a tape library and is optimized for data protection. Quantum sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2002, were approximately $1.1 billion. Quantum Corp, 501 Sycamore Dr., Milpitas, CA 95035, 408-944-4000, www.quantum.com.