ASACA and Rorke Data Partner to Demonstrate World's First Serial-ATA Library at RSNA; Revolutionary FireFly Offers Medical Industry Faster than Near-Line Access to Data.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 2002

ASACA Corp., the 30-year high-density storage solutions leader, will partner with Rorke Data Inc., a subsidiary of San Jose, Calif.-based Bell Microproducts Inc. (Nasdaq:BELM), to demonstrate the revolutionary new FireFly DM series digital virtual library this week in Rorke Data's booth #3100 during RSNA 2002. Integrating new Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives, the FireFly redefines near-line storage expectations by delivering up to 48 terabytes (TB) of data per library. With unparalleled advances in nearline storage technology, ASACA's FireFly offers the medical industry much greater performance and economy than some of the industry's leading tape installations.

"The FireFly represents a revolutionary approach to archive & back-up for fixed content applications common to Medical Diagnostic Imaging" said Joe Rorke, vice president of marketing for Rorke Data. "Our customer's workflow requires on-demand access to high-resolution image data, often within the context of meeting regulatory requirements for data integrity and redundancy. Predictive Failure Analysis ensures that data is secure with automatic migration and active disk replacement. So, the Firefly approach emulates a standard archive device such as a tape or optical library but with the speed and cost advantages of hard disk technology. It's perfect for secure, very high-speed storage."

Harnessing data in the world's first fully electronic, non-robotic, true, random access library, ASACA, has expanded the traditional three planes on which data reside; Online, Nearline and Offline, to include a fourth plane of storage: Virtually Online (V-Line). This new storage level provides high-speed transmission of data on demand, similar to an online RAID, but remains in a quiescent state until needed. As a result, the FireFly is an electronic library based on hard disk drives, offering superior performance and tremendous capacities, without the price tag of traditional online storage.

"Rorke Data's medical imaging customers require a lot of storage capacity because their workflow typically requires uncompressed, native file format stored almost indefinitely," said Chuck Larabie, ASACA's vice president of sales. "By incorporating Serial ATA hard drives into a virtual library, we are able to provide V-line access to data in a way people are used to, but with the cost advantages of hard disk technology. As a result, the FireFly can better equip healthcare providers to more efficiently manage their clinical information and images to improve operational performance and patient care."

Part of the innovation behind FireFly is in the incorporation of as many as 192- 200GB or 250GB Serial ATA drives within a single ASACA library. This combination provides network environments with as many as 48 concurrent streams of data at speeds that will shatter previous nearline storage expectations.

Visit Rorke Data's booth #3100 at RSNA 2002 (Dec. 2-6) to experience the FireFly and join the storage revolution.

Price/Availability

ASACA's FireFly DM Digital Virtual Library systems integrating 200GB MaXLine II SATA drives will be available in first quarter of 2003 and 250GB MaXLine II SATA drives will be available in second quarter of 2003. Individual libraries can be configured with 1 to 192 200G or 250GB Serial ATA drives capable of delivering 400+ Megabytes (MB/s) of sustained performance to and from the library. FireFly users can cluster as many as 10 cabinets together for up to 480TB of data storage. The FireFly DM is expected to have a starting price of $100,000.

About Rorke Data

Rorke Data is a full digital storage solutions provider with expertise in Fibre-Channel RAID, SAN, DVD, tape and optical libraries, Unix, NT and Mac environments, high bandwidth networks,and engineering and maintenance services. Founded in 1985, Rorke Data, is a subsidiary of Bell Microproducts, San Jose, and is composed of four divisions: Medical Diagnostic Imaging, Digital Video & Broadcast, Digital Prepress & Publishing, as well as a Technical Services division. More information about Rorke Data can be found at www.rorke.com. Rorke Data is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts Inc.

About Bell Microproducts

Bell Microproducts is an international value added provider of a wide range of high technology products, solutions, and services to the industrial and commercial marketplace. The company's offering includes semiconductors, computer platforms, peripherals, and storage products of various types including desktop, high-end computer and storage subsystems, Fibre-Channel connectivity products, RAID, NAS and SAN storage systems and back-up products. Bell Microproducts is an industry-recognized specialist in storage products and is one of the world's largest storage-centric value-added distributors.

The company's products are available at any level of integration from components, to subsystem assemblies, to fully integrated, tested and certified system solutions. The company adds value with a broad range of services including testing, software loading, kitting, mass storage system integration, and computer system integration. Trained and certified technical personnel complete each of these processes at Bell Microproducts' ISO 9002 facilities. Bell Microproducts markets and distributes more than 150 brand name product lines, as well as its own BellStor storage and TradeMark computer brands, to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract electronic manufacturing services (EMS) customers, value-added resellers (VARs) and system integrators in the Americas and Europe. More information can be found in SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts Web site at www.bellmicro.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect the company's current views of future events and financial performance, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or facts to differ materially from such statements for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: the ability to successfully integrate the operations of recent acquisitions, industry conditions, changes in product supply, pricing, and customer demand, competition, other vagaries in the computer and electronic components markets, changes in relationships with key suppliers, foreign currency fluctuations and the other risks described from time to time in the company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K). Investors should take such risks into account when making investment decisions. Shareholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements.

For more information, contact: Rorke Data Inc., 9700 W. 76th St., Eden Prairie, MN 55344; 800/328-8147 or 952/829-0300; fax: [phone]; Web site: www.rorke.com.

About ASACA

Founded in 1971, the ASACA/SHIBASOKU Corp. has its U.S. headquarters in Golden, Colo. A leading developer of high-capacity, high-performance data storage solutions, the company is focused on serving broadcast and data storage markets worldwide. For complete information on the TeraCart DVL systems, visit the ASACA Web site at www.asaca.com.