ADIC Second Quarter Revenues On Track; New Products, Expanded OEM and Branded Channels Offset Economic Factors to Date.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2001

ADVANCED DIGITAL INFORMATION CORPORATION (Nasdaq:ADIC), one of the world's leading independent storage solutions providers, today announced that sales and bookings to date for the current quarter ending April 30, 2001 remain consistent with the previously announced target of approximately 40 percent annual revenue growth.

The Company noted that it may be growing faster than underlying economic trends would suggest because of the impact of new products, expansion of existing OEM sales channels and payback on investments made in branded sales channels over the past several months.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter van Oppen noted, "We are pleased that, based on our overall sales and bookings for the quarter so far, we are on target to meet our objectives for the period. However, it is possible that the economic environment could still frustrate our objectives this quarter and pose problems for the remainder of the year."

The Company noted that all three of its largest OEM customers are in the process of rolling out extensions to their existing product lines based on ADIC products and that ADIC-branded versions of several of these products are just beginning to expand their share in the marketplace. In addition, the Company noted that it has been aggressively expanding its internal and external sales resources over the past few quarters and that those investments in additional headcount appear to be paying off despite a modest reduction in the frenzied sales activity that has been experienced over the past 18 months. Lastly, large libraries and European business continue to perform at expected levels while two-tier distribution business in the United States is somewhat behind expectations, according to the Company.

About ADIC

Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC) is a leading device-independent storage solutions provider to the open systems marketplace offering a broad range of products designed to enhance organizations' abilities to store, protect, manage and use their rapidly growing network data. ADIC solutions include automated storage libraries, storage management software, and storage networking (SAN/NAS) connectivity tools. ADIC storage products are available through a worldwide sales force and a global network of resellers and OEMs, including Dell, Fujitsu Siemens and IBM.

On January 30, the Company announced that it had entered into a merger agreement with storage networking pioneer Pathlight Technology, Inc. for total consideration of 10.3 million ADIC shares. The merger is expected to close during ADIC's second quarter ending April 30, 2001. The merged companies will offer a broad range of Intelligent Storage(TM) products including SAN management, connectivity and virtualization products that complement ADIC's existing storage hardware and software solutions.

Further information about ADIC is available at http://www.adic.com

This release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Company's future operating results that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The words "target", "expect", "anticipate", and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors that could affect the Company's actual results include general economic trends, technical competition or obsolescence, supply constraints, changes in market pricing and production problems. Reference is made to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended October 31, 2000 and to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-4 filed on February 14, 2001 for a more detailed description of factors that could affect the Company's actual results. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.