ADIC Doubles Capacity and Throughput of Industry's Largest LTO Library Family; Adds Latest Drive Technology to Innovations in Management, Scalability, and SAN Support.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2003

Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC), leading supplier of storage solutions to the open system market, announced today that the company is helping IT departments keep up with increasing data protection demands by doubling the capacity and throughput of its industry-leading line of LTO automated tape libraries.

The upgraded libraries, which integrate the second generation of high performance LTO Ultrium drives (LTO-2), include ADIC's intelligent management features, high performance scalability, and integrated SAN support to help IT departments manage their backup more effectively in systems that reach from the desk-top to Enterprise data centers. The new libraries also provide full backward read and write compatibility with first-generation LTO technology (LTO-1) to allow end-users to retain the full value of their existing data protection infrastructure.

"Data protection -- and choice of library technology -- have become strategic issues for the entire enterprise," commented Bill Britts, ADIC Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "The new LTO-2 drive technology combines with the innovations that ADIC has brought to libraries -- including features like proactive datapath checking, capacity-on-demand scalability, and dual, redundant robotics -- to give users system-wide improvement in backup whether they are protecting a few hundred gigabytes or several petabytes of information. For the end user it means better data protection, lower long term costs, and easier management."

The new LTO-2 libraries include all of ADIC's Scalar series storage networking libraries as well as the company's AML(TM) library line. Together, the library offerings give users a range of from 1 to 400 drives and from 24 to more than 50,000 LTO tape cartridges. With LTO-2 technology, each library doubles its capacity to 400 GB per tape cartridge and more than doubles its data transfer rates to 70 MB per second per drive.(a)

The first models to ship with the new drive technology are ADIC's Scalar series libraries, all of which feature innovative scalability and built-in support for storage network environments.

The Scalar 24 is the first compact library to offer full enterprise-class data protection at entry-level prices. In addition to LTO2 drive technology, the Scalar 24 offers scalable management, a guaranteed capacity upgrade path, and integrated storage networking options, all at a price that can save users 30% or more on backup costs. It is available with one or two LTO tape drives and 24 media slots.

The Scalar 100 offers rack-optimized storage density, providing up to 6 LTO drives and up to 72 cartridges (28.8 TB) in only 14 standard rack units (24.5 inches). The Scalar 100 features integrated Fibre Channel SAN connectivity for high performance backup, and it allows users to perform their own capacity and performance upgrades in minutes, without reconfiguring their rack systems.

The Scalar 1000 is the high performance, scalable data center library that offers from 188 to 938 cartridge positions -- over 375 TB capacity with normal 2:1 compression -- and from 1 to 48 LTO tape drives. It was the first data center-class library to couple high-performance, barrier-free system growth with storage networking support that improves the performance, reliability, and manageability of SAN backup.

The Scalar 10K is the first automated library designed to support enterprise-scale backup consolidation. It offers the industry's first capacity-on-demand scalability, a proven high-availability architecture, and a full suite of integrated storage network management and connectivity capabilities. The Scalar 10K libraries support from 700 to 9582 LTO cartridges and up to 324 drives for a total capacity of over 3.8 petabytes.

ADIC libraries with LTO-2 drives are available from ADIC and ADIC channel partners beginning in February.

About ADIC

Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC) is a leading provider of Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions to the open systems marketplace. ADIC(R) is the world's largest supplier of automated tape systems using the drive technologies most often employed for backing up open system, client-server networks(a). The Company's data management software and storage networking appliances provide IT managers innovative tools for storing, managing and protecting their most valuable digital assets. ADIC storage products are available through a worldwide sales force and a global network of resellers and OEMs, including Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun. For more information, visit www.adic.com.

(a)All capacity and data transfer specifications assume average 2:1 compression unless otherwise stated. ADIC and Scalar are registered trademarks and Intelligent Storage and AML are trademarks of Advanced Digital Information Corporation. Market share data from IDC 2001 worldwide revenue and unit market share data for all automated systems using DLT, SDLT, LTO, 8mm or AIT drives and Gartner/Dataquest, 2002 Market Shares and Forecasts for Tape Automation Systems, F. Yale, August 2002.