ADIC and Scalar i2000 Win International Awards; Customer Satisfaction, Innovation, Advanced Technology, Performance Cited.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 12, 2004

Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC), leading supplier of Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions to the open systems market, announced today that in December the company and its innovative Scalar(R) i2000 intelligent tape library received five prestigious awards from leading IT publications and research centers in China and Korea.

"These awards signal the success of ADIC's continuing commitment to serve end-user customers and channel partners in Asia with a combination of innovative storage solutions and effective service and support," commented Scott Roza, ADIC Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "We have been especially pleased that this important region has recognized how our innovative libraries use built-in intelligence to make enterprise data protection more effective, and how our entire team works with end users to provide a superior long-term solution."

The China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), the leading independent test and consulting organization in China, and the China Federation for IT Promotion co-presented ADIC with their annual Customer Satisfaction Award in the Storage Systems category. This award is based on a combination of evaluations by the CCID advisory and test groups and the experiences of end-users who have implemented ADIC solutions. The award honors the companies who show leadership in combining product innovation with overall solution effectiveness, including service and support throughout the entire planning, implementation, and operational program phases.

China Computerworld named the Scalar i2000 a recipient of its Annual Product Award for best new solution offerings for 2003. This annual product award is judged on the basis of technical innovation, performance, quality, ease of use, and total ownership costs, with evaluations being made by a combination of technical editors and independent IT analysts. China Computerworld is China's largest IT publication with a circulation of more than 200,000 readers.

China Information World, a publication of the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID), awarded the Scalar i2000 its annual Editor's Choice Award in the storage category. The award, made by a panel of technical journalists and staff from the CCID Consulting and Evaluation organizations, is based on a number of factors, including technical innovation, cost, market adoption, and completeness of local after-sales service offerings.

Digital Times and Electronic Times, two of the largest IT publications in Korea, both named the ADIC Scalar i2000 to their separate lists of "Most Significant New Products of 2003." The publications' selection criteria included a combination of technical evaluation by leading IT analysts, market share information, and reports from end-user customers. Electronic Times serves the technical and business community with daily news and analysis about information technology, science, bio technology and the content distribution industry. Digital Times has been informing readers about information technology and the digital economy since 2000, focusing on government, industry news, and advanced technologies.

The ADIC Scalar i2000 intelligent tape library eliminates external library control servers and enhances library functions to enhance overall data protection and save users time and money over the life of their backup system. It is the first library to incorporate ADIC's intelligent iPlatform(TM) architecture, integrating and simplifying key backup management functions while reducing the need for external applications, equipment, and management activities.

Functions integrated within the Scalar i2000 include partitioning of a single library into multiple logical libraries, mixed media operation, native Fibre Channel connectivity, advanced performance monitoring, proactive system readiness checks, self-guided diagnostics, and policy-based user alerts that are sent over standard email and pager networks. The iPlatform's server-class embedded controller displays real-time backup performance data and gathers information to be used for future predictive analysis. It also incorporates ADIC's capacity-on-demand capability, allowing users to expand from 100 to over 2200 tape cartridges and pay for the added capacity only as they use it.

About ADIC

Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC) is a leading provider of Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions to the open systems marketplace. ADIC 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, storage networking appliances, and disk-to-tape data protection solutions provide IT managers innovative tools for storing, managing and protecting their most valuable digital assets in a variety of disk and tape environments. ADIC storage products are available through a worldwide sales force and a global network of resellers and OEMs, including Cray, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, IBM and Sun. Further information about ADIC is available at www.adic.com.

(a) IDC 2001 worldwide revenue and unit market share data for all automated systems using DLT, SDLT, LTO, 8mm or AIT drives; Gartner Dataquest, 2002 Market Shares and Forecasts for Tape Automation Systems, F. Yale, August 2002; and, Gartner Dataquest, Tape Automation Systems Market Shares, 2002, F. Yale, April 2003. ADIC and Scalar are registered trademarks and Intelligent Storage is a trademark of Advanced Digital Information Corporation. All other trade or service marks mentioned in this document should be considered the property of their respective owners.