Features - Storage Innovations:

BREECE HILL RE-LAUNCHES TAPE AUTOMATION BRAND

Breece Hill LLC, a Louisville, Colo.-based manufacturer of tape autoloaders, libraries and storage appliances announced that it will now market the "Peak Storage Solutions" line of tape autoloaders and libraries under the "Breece Hill" brand name. In addition, the company today introduced a new line of information storage appliances, intended for Small-to-Medium Business (SMB) customers, which integrate easy-to-use pre-loaded software, disk, removable storage, network connectivity and server-class processing, all within a single enclosure. Each appliance provides network file sharing, file replication from network clients and file migration to removable archive. The functionalities supported include intelligent policy-based management as well as seamless file retrieval from disk or archive.

The first product in the series, code-named Tropic, will include the following: pre-loaded management software, a 1 TB Serial-ATA disk array, up to 2TB of uncompressed removable tape storage, an Intel server motherboard and Gigabit-Ethernet connectivity, packaged in a single easy to deploy rack-mountable 4u-high enclosure. The modular architecture allows scalability to cover a range of disk and tape capacities.

The first shipments of Tropic to customers are planned for the fourth quarter of 2003. Follow-on appliance products will cover a complete range of capacities, functionalities, and price points, with a variety of removable storage options.

"Our traditional tape automation products are recognized for excellence in the legacy functions of backup and restore," said Frank Saab, vice president of marketing for Breece Hill. "With our new disk-to-disk-to-tape appliances, we are embracing an industry-wide paradigm shift in how information is stored and retrieved. With the explosion in data growth on one hand, and with new data retention regulations affecting numerous business sectors, the legacy modes of backup and restore are simply becoming obsolete. SMB users no longer accept repetitive and wasteful backup procedures. According to our market research, users seek the ability to replicate files from primary storage to archive based on intelligent policies. They also require the ability to migrate information transparently from disk storage to less expensive tape storage. Just as importantly, they require the ability to retrieve information seamlessly, on-demand, whether it is located on disk or on tape. Formerly, these capabilities were the exclusive preserve of large scale enterprises. Today, these same capabilities are considered vital in SMB environments. We are proud to be among the very first to bring these kinds of sophisticated information management capabilities to our customers at a price point which fits SMB budgets."

Phil Pascarelli, president of Breece Hill, added, "The requirements of information management are shifting from backup and restore towards long-term retention and archival storage. Our innovative hardware and software architecture, integrated into an easily deployable single-box configuration, fully supports this paradigm shift in ways not supported by disk-only or tape-only devices. Our low cost architecture allows very high external data rates (up to 80 MB per second) for file replication and retrieval, matching or exceeding the data rate capabilities of tape-only systems costing many times more. The integration of disk and tape inside of a single enclosure eliminates any network impact of the migration between disk and tape. The tape portion of the architecture allows for removability and low cost archiving, neither of which is available with disk-only NAS storage."

The Breece Hill brand of tape automation products was first introduced in 1993 by Boulder, Colo.-based Breece Hill Technologies. The product line was acquired by MaxOptix Corporation in 2001. Subsequently, MaxOptix continued the development and marketing of the product line under the MaxOptix brand, and later, under the PeAk Storage Solutions brand. Breece Hill LLC recently acquired the product line. Product development, support and marketing for the product line, which now consists of tape autoloaders and libraries for a range of tape formats including LTO, Quantum DLTtape and Sony AIT, have continued without interruption since 1993.

"The re-branding of our tape storage automation line re-establishes continuity with the installed base of more than 25,000 Breece Hill branded autoloaders and libraries worldwide," Pascarelli said. "We also seek to renew and strengthen our relationships with the indirect sales channels, including Value Added Resellers, distributors and Original Equipment Manufacturers, who have been responsible for the success of the brand. Our market research demonstrates there is significant brand equity associated with the name Breece Hill; this constitutes an important asset for us as well as our partners."

Pascarelli added, "With the return to our original brand name, we are also renewing our commitment to the continued development and support of our existing product lines.

"For ten years, ever since Breece Hill was first-to-market with automation solutions for DLTtape, the Breece Hill name has been well-known for cost-effective reliability and innovation in data storage. The return to the Breece Hill brand name will help to accelerate the market adoption of our new line of information appliances."

Storage industry analyst Fred Moore of Horison Information Strategies in Boulder, Colo., commented on the announcement as follows: "In the recent report 'Storage Manifesto,' I outlined the shifts in storage requirements and usage taking place in various market segments, driven by regulation and by the growth in archive data and fixed content requirements. Breece Hill is positioning itself ideally to appeal to a growing segment of SMB customers whose needs for affordable storage and archive solutions are not served effectively by other hardware and software vendors. The company has demonstrated astonishing speed to market as well as an uncanny ability to perceive the needs of the marketplace."

Customers wishing to beta-test Breece Hill's Tropic appliance are invited to contact the company directly by calling (303)664-8200 (in the US 1-800-941-0550) or e-mailing sales@breecehill.com.