Addonics Storage Tower Allows Users to Build a Terabyte Storage System With Throughput up to 3 Gbits/Sec; Mix and Match Optical or Hard Drives in the Same Enclosure.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Addonics Technologies, www.addonics.com, today announced a compact drive enclosure solution that allows users to mix and match multiple drive interfaces as well as hard drive or optical storage devices inside a single drive enclosure.

The Addonics Storage Tower consists of a sturdy aluminum enclosure, with two cooling fans and a 220 watt power supply. The enclosure can accommodate up to four full height optical drives or five 3.5" hard drives; or any combination of these devices or drive interfaces. The Storage Tower is a simple, affordable and flexible solution for wide range of data storage applications and is well suited for uncompressed pro-video storage and performance demanding backup for small business.

Addonics offers a choice of two back panels with its Storage Tower line. The Storage Tower (Model ST5ESA1US) has a back panel with one USIB and five eSATA (the latest external SATA standard) connectors. Using this back panel, up to four SATA and one IDE/ATAPI device can be installed into the Storage Tower.

With the eSATA connectors, users can easily build a high throughput (up to 3 Gbits/sec using SATA II) external storage system with various RAID configurations or a high capacity terabyte storage system by directly connecting the SATA storage devices inside the Storage Tower to the eSATA or regular SATA port of a computer. The USIB connector allows an IDE or ATAPI storage device to interface to a computer via USB or Firewire interface using Addonics optional USIB interface cables.

The Storage Tower (Model # ST4US) features four Addonics USIB connectors on the back panel, which allows users to connect up to four IDE or ATAPI devices inside the Storage Tower to the USB 2.0 or Firewire interface by attaching the optional Addonics USB or Firewire USIB interface cable.

In addition, when combined with Addonics Mobile Racks, or the Addonics Disk Array 4SA, the configuration possibilities are almost endless. The Addonics Mobile Rack is a removable hard drive storage solution, which allows either SATA or IDE hard drives to be installed, removed, or hot swapped from the same Drive Cradle as a removable hard drive. The Addonics Disk Array 4SA system accommodates up to four 3.5" SATA hard drives in a 3 5 1/4" drive bays space. Each SATA hard drive can be easily secured inside or removed from the Disk Array rack with the aluminum slide-out drive drawers.

Because drives or optical devices installed in the Addonics Storage Towers act as independent drive volumes, users decide how to configure the storage system based on their specific storage needs. For example, a common configuration might be the Storage Tower configured with the Disk Array 4SA and one ATAPI optical drive.

The Addonics Storage Tower measures 8.19 x 12.94 x 8 inch (W x D x H) and weighs approximately nine pounds with no drive. MSRP of the Storage Tower model: ST4US with 4 USIB connectors is $165. List price of the Storage Tower model: ST5ESA1US with 5 eSATA ports and 1 USIB port is $149.

The Addonics Storage Tower, depending on the interface to the computer, is compatible with Windows 98SE, Me, 2000, XP, 2003, Linux kernel 2.4 and higher, Mac OS 9.0, and Solaris 9.0 and higher.

Addonics products are available through the company online store www.shopaddonics.com, major catalog companies, resellers, VARs and distributors, including Amazon.com, PC Connection, CDW, Buy.com, Provantage.com, Insight, and Ingram Micro.

Addonics Technologies Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets a broad line of external and mobile storage products. Addonics is headquartered at 2466 Kruse Drive, San Jose, CA 95131, Phone: [phone]. Visit Addonics at www.addonics.com.

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