ATL Solutions Forum '96 in Germany attracts broad range of integrators, hardware & software partners.

ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 1996--More than 100 distributors, systems integrators and data management hardware and software vendors gathered outside of Munich, Germany, last month to share ideas and learn about the latest developments in the automated tape library market at the second annual ATL Solutions Forum, sponsored by ATL Products Inc., an Odetics company. (Nasdaq:ODETA/ODETB).

John Woolcott, international sales manager for ATL Products, coordinated the event, along with the host, Jorg Klehe, managing director of M+S Electronik GmbH.

Woolcott emphasized that the forum was developed with two key purposes: to share information among integrators about understanding and capitalizing on opportunities in the automated tape library market, and creating an informal sociable atmosphere that would encourage the attendees to make new contacts and interchange ideas.

``The formal part of the program included a variety of presentations on automated tape libraries, focusing on general industry issues,'' said Woolcott. ``It is really an overview of automated tape libraries -- in the generic sense.''

Woolcott added: ``The entire event is geared to understanding this relatively new opportunity. The tape library market is one of the most value-added opportunities in the integration market today, and if we don't understand the opportunity and take advantage of it, it could simply go away. So our focus was on understanding customer needs, and how best to address those needs.''

The panel of speakers included ANDATACO on opportunities in tape arrays; Control Data GmbH, regarding tape library solutions unique to the European market; platform-specific solutions, including Amdahl; and an overview of tape library technology in the IBM environment from Interkom GmbH.

Along with these product solutions, Robert Peyton, director of European storage research for IDC, provided an in-depth examination of the high-end European storage market. The featured guest speaker was Charles Curran, from the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), on Taming the Storage Jungle at CERN.

``The formal presentations consumed only half of the weekend event, which was by design,'' said Woolcott, ``to ensure there was ample time for the participants to network.''

The opportunity to discuss common problems and borrow ideas for solutions was perhaps the most valuable aspect of the event, according to Garry Humphreys, managing director of Dawn Technologies of Sydney, Australia, a distributor for ATL Products in Australia and New Zealand.

``The opportunity to meet with distributors and integrators from around the world gave us some good insights in developing solutions for multinational companies that have already purchased automated tape libraries in other countries. By leveraging that knowledge and expertise, we have a much greater chance for success in penetrating the local branch of that same multinational customer,'' he added.

In his presentation on Distribution 2000, Humphreys also sounded a warning to the hardware and software vendors in attendance not to repeat the mistakes other vendors have made by becoming greedy and pulling their sales efforts in-house, abandoning the partners that helped build that initial success.

``With products as complex as automated tape libraries, it takes some very committed systems integration houses to push the product through to the end users and a good deal of pioneering work,'' he said.

``We've seen too many companies get arrogant and forget the partners that made them successful in the first place. The key is the attitude of management to appoint skilled distribution partners early on and stick with them to build the business to everyone's benefit.''

Attendance at the ATL Solutions Forum increased more than 25 percent from the first year, and the success attracted a wide range of associated vendors -- both hardware and software suppliers -- who displayed their product offerings for the integrators in a mini-trade show.

The significance of the ATL Solutions Forum is such that Quantum Corp. used the event to publicly unveil its new DLT 7000 tape drive, featuring a native capacity of 35 gigabytes per cartridge and a data rate of 5 megabytes per second.

ATL Products, a wholly owned subsidiary of Odetics Inc., is the leading worldwide drive-independent supplier of automated tape library systems for the network server, midrange and mainframe computer markets. ATL automated libraries have earned an unsurpassed field-proven reputation for maximum reliability.

Building on the breakthrough robotic media handling systems developed by Odetics for broadcast video applications, ATL has optimized the technology for data storage applications. The company has created the most durable and flexible automated tape libraries on the market, with a certified rating of more than 1 million cartridge swaps between failure.

ATL provides service and support from its headquarters in Anaheim, as well as international facilities in Europe and Asia Pacific, with sales offices in major cities.

CONTACT: ATL Products Inc.

Chet Baffa, 714/780-7790

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JPR Communications

Judy Smith, 818/992-8867

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