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Technology Stocks : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe Wagner who wrote (1572)	11/3/1999 7:31:00 AM
From: Nine_USA	Respond to of 4808

ADIC Introduces New Tape Library Platform; Drive-independent Scalar 100 First to Support SAN, SCSI and NAS Connectivity Sets New Industry Standard for Storage Density REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 1999--Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC) today introduced its Scalar 100, a new generation enterprise tape library platform that is the first in the industry to offer enterprise IT departments direct support for the newest networking and media technologies. The Scalar 100 also sets new storage density benchmarks and offers enhanced web management capabilities. The ADIC Scalar 100 is designed to support the industry's broadest range of emerging storage and networking architectures with user-configurable, plug-in modules. The library supports traditional SCSI connection, but can be easily converted for SAN use by addition of a FibreReady(TM) SAN module. As a SAN library, the Scalar 100 supports IT departments who want to reduce network traffic, consolidate data protection and share storage resources between multiple servers using a high-bandwidth Storage Area Network. Installation of the library's StorNext(TM) network attach library option converts the Scalar 100 into the industry's first network-attach storage (NAS) archive tape library. As a network-attach library, the Scalar 100 allows heterogeneous network clients to use the library for near-line and archival applications while completely eliminating the requirement for a separate server. "The storage market is evolving rapidly, with companies continuously searching for different ways to store, access and connect network data," noted Bill Britts, ADIC executive vice-president of Sales and Marketing. "Fortunately, there are effective new networking and tape drive architectures that are being introduced to address these requirements, but what's been missing is a library platform designed from the beginning to deliver all of these new capabilities to the IT community. The Scalar 100's flexible, open architecture and its dynamic connectivity make it the first library platform designed specifically to incorporate these new technologies, bridging the gap between today's and tomorrow's enterprise storage requirements." The Scalar 100 features a drive-independent design that allows it to easily support different drive and media types. In addition to supporting DLTtape(TM) and AIT formats, the Scalar 100 is the first library designed to support the new LTO Ultrium format in development by IBM, HP, and Seagate, as well as Quantum Corporation's SuperDLT drives. Moreover, the Scalar 100 was designed to be quickly reconfigured for other new media types, providing a single platform, supplier and user interface for the widest variety of media types in the industry. The Scalar 100 also offers the highest density tape storage in the industry, enabling IT departments to conserve expensive data center space. In its DLTtape configuration, the Scalar 100 houses up to 6 drives and 60 data cartridges (4.8 terabytes capacity) in only 14 units of standard rack space (nearly 350 GB of storage per rack unit). This capacity increases storage density by 50% over existing DLT tape libraries. The Scalar 100 also offers easy field scalability to lower start-up costs and reduce expensive infrastructure redeployments. It allows customers to begin with a low drive and media count, adding additional drive and media positions incrementally as data grows. For remote monitoring and operation, the Scalar 100 introduces ADIC's new web-enabled management option, provided by another user-installable module. This integrated web server gives remote users the same level of management that they have from the library keypad, including drive and library firmware downloads, pass/fail testing, and single-event operation. Jonathan Otis, ADIC vice president of product management, commented "Scalar 100 libraries will break new ground in web manageability for storage devices. Our goal in designing this platform was to rethink every aspect of the library architecture in order to provide IT departments with a flexible solution to meet changing storage requirements. From media to connectivity to management, we've worked hard to redefine library storage." The Scalar 100 will be available in Q1 2000. Street price for the unit is expected to start at under $20,000. About ADIC With more than 50,000 automated tape libraries installed and a suite of innovative software solutions and Storage Area Networking (SAN) products, ADIC is a leading global provider in the growing market to manage and protect information for computer networks. Marketed under ADIC and ADIC/GRAU brands and the brands of OEM partners, including Dell, Exabyte and Unisys, automated tape libraries are available with DLTtape, D2, half-inch, AIT, and 4mm tape technologies, and are supported by leading backup and storage management software products for Windows NT, UNIX, and mainframe operating systems. The Company's own storage management tools include AMASS(R), FileServ and CentraVision, software products which provide users with shared access to network data. A pioneer in Storage Area Networks, ADIC's Open SAN solutions combine open-system SAN hardware and software with installation services and single-call support. Further product information is available via the Internet at www.adic.com. ADIC, FibreReady, StorNext, CentraVision and AMASS are trademarks of Advanced Digital Information Corporation. All other product, trademark, company, or service names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. What the Industry is Saying About ADIC's Scalar 100 "The Scalar 100 is a great new product, and ADIC continues to grow the ways in which we can add value to the end-user community. This library gives the customer the widest range of options available anywhere in a single platform, including both connectivity and drive type. It's the perfect product to let a reseller expand its value-add by helping end-users plan and execute a dynamic data protection strategy that can change with their data and with the emergence of new technologies." Gavin Thames, Chairman, Acclaim Technology "ADIC's new Scalar 100 tape platform -- with an integrated Network Attach Storage option -- should unlock very interesting alternatives for organizations grappling with how to store, manage, access and use rapidly their growing archives of critical data. Network attach tape has interesting potential applications in emerging archive markets, including audio and video-on-demand." David Hill, Senior Analyst, Storage and Storage Management, The Aberdeen Group "ADIC continues to expand the choices for IT departments rolling out SANs to solve the problems that exploding data growth and exploding data value are creating. The combination of Ancor switches with the Scalar 100 and ADIC's other FibreReady libraries offer end-users high performance SAN backup." Carla Kennedy, Vice President, Marketing, Ancor Communications "The storage industry is rapidly evolving in terms of technology and storage requirements -- from both a hardware and software point of view. CA's partnership with ADIC is focused on delivering superior technology that meets the growing needs of our clients. The ADIC's Scalar 100 Series libraries combined with CA's SAN enabled Unicenter TNG Framework and ARCserveIT delivers a complete storage management solution for our mutual clients." Mike LaTorraca, Vice President, Development Partner Program, Computer Associates "The combination of Emulex's Fibre Channel networking products and the Scalar 100, with its integrated SAN connectivity, will provide the IT community with a powerful new combination for unleashing the performance, data access, and management advantages of Storage Area Networks. ADIC and Emulex continue to set new standards for making SAN deployment easy across the enterprise." Mike Kane, Director of Marketing, Emulex Corporation "The storage industry is changing rapidly for organizations of all sizes. Some of the highest rates of growth are occurring in the midrange tape library segment and in the new implementations of storage, principally in Storage Area Networking and Network Attach Storage." Robert Abraham, President, Freeman Reports "ADIC has targeted a very robust area of the midrange tape automation market. The Scalar 100 supporting multiple tape technologies gives users greater flexibility to utilize current as well as future tape formats." Bob Amatruda, Sr. Analyst, Tape and Removable Storage, IDC "The combination of ADIC's Scalar 100 and Legato's range of enterprise storage products is laying the foundation for next-generation SAN advances, such as serverless data transfer delivered through Legato Celestra Power and coordination with Celestra Consortium members, such as ADIC. We look forward to delivering solutions that take advantage of the ADIC Scalar 100 and its unique dual SCSI/SAN connectivity." Scott McIntyre, Business Line Manager, Storage Networking, Legato Systems "SAN technology is critical for the next generation of data protection solutions, across all major operating systems, and across the entire enterprise, from workgroups to the data center. The Scalar 100, with its easy conversion from SCSI to SAN support and its wide choice of drive type and count, provides a perfect complement for the VERITAS Software family of data protection software, both VERITAS NetBackup and VERITAS Backup Exec." Steve Coleman, Vice President of Worldwide OEM Operations, VERITAS Software CONTACT: ADIC Steve Whitner, 425/895-3435 stevew@adic.com or Sterling Communications Paul Forecki, 253/853-5030 pforecki@sterlingpr.com ADVANCED DIGITAL INFO - ADIC Price 41 3/4 Net Change -2 7/8 Volume (000) 713 Day High 47 Day Low 41 3/16 as of 11/03/99 07:22 AM EST

To: Joe Wagner who wrote (1572)	11/3/1999 12:28:00 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

Joe, If only we could buy a tape or have someone do a webcast for us! '00 will be a very interesting year for us. Good thing we got to our seats early. The BIG dog thinks '00 is shaping up very nicely techweb.com November 01, 1999, Issue: 759 Section: Behind The News -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EMC: A Storehouse Of Profits -- The Storage-Hardware Maker Has Topped 30% In Revenue And Earnings Growth For The Last 10 Quarters And Could Do Better In 2000 William Schaff You have to love a company that gives away L.L. Bean knapsacks at its press conferences. But I like EMC Corp. (EMC-NYSE) for a lot more than its generosity. The Boston company has become the dominant enterprise storage-hardware company as well as one of the leading storage-software vendors. Meanwhile, EMC's shareholders haven't done too badly, either. Most investors and IT managers are familiar with EMC's storage products and services. Not surprisingly, Web businesses are driving much of the current demand for EMC storage growth because of their huge ramp-up in capacity requirements. The need for reliable, scalable, and independent storage infrastructure built on leading-edge Fibre Channel technology will support EMC's top-line growth rate of 30% to 40% for the next few years. Add to this the Clariion storage line EMC acquired from its merger with Data General-a product line that will address the underserved middle market-and it's hard not to get excited by growth rates that could exceed 40% next year. If you have followed the storage market, it's clear that EMC is getting premium pricing for its products on top of the benefits of additional unit sales. But hardware is only one part of the story. I also like EMC's increasing software sales, which represented about 15% of sales in the latest quarter ended Sept. 30, and could rise to the high teens within the next few years. This has been one of the reasons gross margins continue to rise to a very strong 57.5%. Product launches such as EMC ControlCenter, automation software for storage infrastructure, should help support the company's software growth rate, which was 76% year over year during the third quarter. However, EMC is not growing in a vacuum. The huge spike in storage demand will continue to bring competitors to the marketplace. Hewlett-Packard, for example, has aligned with Hitachi Data Systems Inc.; I understand that Hitachi has been very aggressive with storage pricing. Sun Microsystems has forged an alliance with Storage Technology Inc., another EMC competitor. And, of course, there's IBM, which recently acquired Sequent Computer Systems. If the specter of competition weren't daunting enough for EMC, there's also the risk posed by the merger with Data General, which now represents almost one quarter of EMC's annual revenue. Data General's technology base is very strong, but it has some slow-growing and low-margined businesses such as its Aviion line and its Professional Services group. The merger may actually slow top-line growth rates from the 40% level down to the low 30s if EMC cannot leverage Data General sales through its direct-sales channels. Even in the short term, sales could fall short of expectations as Y2K freezes-especially from traditional industrial companies-slow capital expenditures. I believe, however, that the dot-com companies will more than make up for the loss of sales from the old-line companies. But at the end of the day, it always comes back to execution. EMC's management team remains in good hands under president and CEO Michael Ruettgers. His leadership has helped the company generate consistent revenue and earnings growth of more than 30% per quarter for the last 10 quarters. Certainly, keeping up this pace will be harder at $5 billion than it was at $200 million, when he originally came on board, but that's why he gets paid a heck of a lot more than a financial columnist. EMC should earn $1.08 per share on revenue of $5.3 billion in 1999, excluding the Data General acquisition, which was completed Oct. 12. This would have risen, excluding acquisitions, to $1.40 per share on revenue of $7.25 billion in 2000 just from internal growth. The company will undoubtedly give guidance on its consolidated business plans in the near future, and I expect that the acquisition will be easily accretive to earnings per share in 2000. EMC has, historically, managed Wall Street expectations very well. Until I see the company's fortunes change, I remain a shareholder even at these lofty levels. William Schaff is chief investment officer at Bay Isle Financial Corp. in San Francisco, which manages the InformationWeek 100 Stock Index. You can reach him at bschaff@bayisle.com. Adaptec sold its FC to concentrate on SCCI and now they want back in? techweb.com Milpitas, Calif. -- The number of RAID vendors is expected to drop by one as Adaptec Inc., located here, has signed a letter of intent to acquire Distributed Processing Technology (DPT), Maitland, Fla., for $235 million. Adaptec is a supplier of SCSI RAID solutions which are embedded on motherboards or daughterboards, and both companies supply PCI cards for internal RAID solutions. The deal, expected to close in December or January, marks Adaptec's return to the Fibre Channel market. Adaptec divested itself of its Fibre Channel division to Chaparral Technologies Inc. a year ago. However, DPT does produce a Fibre Channel RAID controller, said Bob Schultz, chief operating officer at Adaptec. The two companies have little overlap in their product offerings, as well as in their channel and OEM customers, said Schultz. He said he expects no one to be laid off by the acquisition. "This is about growth," he said. Look at all the time these guys have wasted! Dell wants to kick CMPQ more and harder.....Is DELL BRCDs best win? techweb.com Dell launches broader SAN foray Joseph F. Kovar Round Rock, Texas - Not satisfied with claiming the No. 1 position from its cross-state rival in the PC business, Dell Computer Corp. now is targeting Compaq Computer Corp. with storage area network (SAN) solutions. But Dell has an uphill journey ahead, as it grapples with how to effectively support the solutions and how to address server installations that include other operating systems aside from Windows NT, said VARs and systems integrators. Dell does not plan to introduce new equipment specifically for attaching to Compaq servers. Instead, the company is certifying its PowerVault SAN solutions for use in Compaq environments and will provide telephone support for its customers, said Rick Luttrall, senior manager for storage marketing at Dell, Round Rock. The Dell move challenges the theory that SAN purchases generally are made in concert with server purchases and that customers prefer to stick with the same brand for both technologies. "Customers say to us they want heterogeneous support," said Luttrall. "We asked them what they want first, and Compaq was the obvious choice." The Dell PowerVault solutions allow up to 10 Compaq ProLiant or Dell PowerEdge servers or any combination to connect to up to four PowerVault 650F Fibre Channel storage systems and eight PowerVault 130T DLT tape libraries for up to 8.4 terabytes of storage and 16.8 terabytes of backup storage, the company said. Dell's move is a first step toward a heterogeneous storage offering, said Darren Thomas, vice president of multivendor storage at Compaq, Houston. But Compaq and rivals such as EMC Corp. are far ahead of Dell with their own heterogeneous solutions, he said. "My customers would laugh me out of the room if I walked in with an NT-only SAN. . . . SANs are so large, they often consist of two or three heterogeneous products," Thomas said. Some resellers categorized Dell's move as a marketing ploy and said they wonder how Dell can support its heterogeneous SAN offerings. Even if Dell uses many of the same components as Compaq, the question of support is important with enterprise customers, said one storage reseller. Don't think SUNW has the problem "I just lost a deal in a [Hewlett- Packard Co.] shop," said the reseller. "I was trying to put Compaq storage on an HP system, and HP told my customer it can't guarantee service." As a result, the reseller did not win the account. Dell's sales should not have much effect on San Jose, Calif.-based VAR Ultraserv Inc., said Bill Gardner, company president. "Customers like to know where to point their fingers," he said. As a Compaq reseller, Ultraserv can offer a guarantee its Compaq storage solutions will work, said Gardner. "When we do an installation for customers, we do it according to our specifications," he said. "We include a satisfaction guarantee. . . . If we don't meet our specifications, we will take it back." Ultraserv, which has won business attaching Compaq storage to systems from HP, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Silicon Graphics Inc., is not concerned when a customer says it is considering using Dell equipment, said Gardner. Ultraserv uses the argument that the 5 percent to 6 percent cost savings-or about $2,000-that Dell storage promises is not worth risking a $75,000 project, Gardner said.