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. -0-

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