DSS announced today that SDLT evaluation units have been delivered to customers this month (in Sept). This is consistent with earlier statements in which they said that final product would be delivered in CYQ1 of '00, although that is not stated in this release. I still haven't heard from anyone at the company. I'll try again today. If anyone has perchance spoken with someone who has tried out one of these evaluation units (or tried one themselves!), I would be most interested in hearing reactions.
Quantum Reaches Milestone in Delivering
Super DLTtape Technology
Leading OEMs Begin Evaluating Super DLTtape Drives
MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 1999--Quantum Corporation's DLT & Storage Systems Group
(NYSE:DSS - news) today announced that during September, leading OEMs and Quantum business partners began
testing the first evaluation units of Quantum's much anticipated Super DLTtape(TM) (Super DLT) drive. These units
confirm that the first generation Super DLTtape drive will deliver more than 100GB of uncompressed storage capacity
on a single cartridge and offer a native transfer rate of higher than 10MB/sec. Super DLTtape technology is also
designed to offer backward compatibility with the DLT 8000, DLT 7000 and DLT 4000 classes of drives.
Super DLTtape products are expected to offer the same industry-wide ISV and OS support available for current
DLTtape products.
``IS and IT managers are eagerly awaiting the next generation tape drive that will offer reliable backup, archiving and
disaster recovery for mid-range servers,' said Fara Yale, chief analyst, Computer Storage Service at Gartner Group's
Dataquest. ``Shipping evaluation drives to major OEMs is a critical milestone for a new technology.'
Super DLTtape is well positioned among high-end tape systems under development, having earned a high level of OEM
support early in the product development process.
``Quantum continues to bring advanced technology to the market,' stated Peter van Cuylenburg, president of Quantum's
DLT & Storage Systems Group (DSSG). ``Super DLTtape drives will further strengthen our market leadership.'
``Super DLTtape's state-of-the-art architecture is designed to meet our customers' storage requirements well into the
future,' said George Saliba, vice president of Quantum's Advanced Products Group and DSSG chief technical officer.
These system level evaluation units demonstrate the many innovations of Super DLTtape including Laser Guided
Magnetic Recording and advanced PRML (partial response maximum likelihood) technology.
Using breakthrough Super DLTtape architecture, Quantum is poised to offer a multi-generational family of
competitively priced tape storage products that range in capacity from above 100 GB up to one terabyte and range in
transfer rates from above 10 MB/sec to 100 MB/sec (uncompressed).
Like previous generations of DLTtape drives, Super DLTtape is expected to support all major systems and platforms,
including UNIX, Linux, NetWare, Windows, Windows NT, Windows 98, AS/400, VMS, DOS, MAC and OS/2. As
with the current DLTtape product line, Super DLTtape drives are expected to be widely supported by all major Integrated
Software Vendors (ISVs).
About DLTtape
With more than 1.2 million DLTtape drives and nearly 40 million DLTtape media cartridges installed to date, DLTtape
technology is the defacto standard for backing up and archiving business-critical data for mid-range servers and high-end
workstations. Information on the DLTtape platform can be found at www.dlttape.com. Information about Super
DLTtape can be found at www.dlttape.com/super_dlttape.
About Quantum
Founded in 1980, Quantum Corporation (www.quantum.com) is the world's leading storage supplier in four of the six
markets it serves: desktop hard disk drives, tape drives, network attached storage (NAS) appliances and solid state
systems. Quantum is also the second largest supplier of mid-range tape automation systems and a leading supplier of
high capacity hard disk drives. Selling its products through OEM and distribution channels worldwide, Quantum's sales
for the fiscal year ending March 1999 were $4.9 billion. In 1999 Quantum became the first Silicon Valley company to
issue tracking stock, replacing its existing common stock with the ticker symbols DSS and HDD, which track the
separate performance of the company's DLT and Storage Systems and Hard Disk Drive businesses. Both stocks are
traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Quantum Corp., 500 McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas, Calif., 95035, www.quantum.com, 408 894-4000
The foregoing statements regarding future technology, products incorporating and sources offering that technology, the
anticipated performance, capabilities and estimated value of future products, as well as the potential market acceptance
and impacts of the new products are forward looking statements and actual results could vary. Factors which could
affect actual results include the success of the ongoing technology development efforts, the ability to successfully
integrate new technology into products in a cost-effective manner, the ability to successfully manufacture and distribute
new products at sufficient volume, quality and reasonable cost, the timing of new product introductions, competition and
the significant uncertainty of market acceptance of new products.
Quantum and the Quantum logo are trademarks of Quantum Corporation, registered in the United States and other
countries. DLTtape and the DLTtape logo are trademarks of Quantum Corporation. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. |
