American Megatrends Inc. Releases HyperDisk, A PCI IDE RAID Controller, to Market.

Business Editors &Technology Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2000

American Megatrends Inc.

     Editorial Summary

--   AMI announces HyperDisk(TM) as a perfect PCI IDE RAID solution
     for desktops, workstations and entry-level servers.

--   HyperDisk allows users to double drive data security and
     performance at a fraction of the cost of SCSI RAID solutions.

--   IDE RAID is important for individual users of desktop PCs.
     Today's data on PCs grows more valuable every day, often
     exceeding the value of the PC itself.

American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), the number one RAID controller manufacturer in the world, today announced the release of HyperDisk,(TM) its new PCI IDE RAID solution for desktops, workstations and entry-level servers.

The AMI HyperDisk solution brings the true RAID concept of high performance, continuous data redundancy and protection to the desktop. HyperDisk is a simple and cost-effective way to increase the performance capability of IDE hard disk drives, allowing users to double their drive performance or double their data security at a fraction of the overall cost of SCSI RAID solutions.

&uot;With AMI's position as the leader in SCSI RAID technology, it is only logical that we enter the new IDE RAID arena with a product based on the same advanced technology used in our higher-end RAID offerings,&uot; said Sanjay Sehgal, AMI's director of OEM Sales. &uot;In fact, HyperDisk's low-cost, good capacity and high performance make it a competitor with SCSI RAID.&uot;

HyperDisk's two IDE channels support data striping (RAID 0) and mirroring (RAID 1), making the HyperDisk IDE RAID solution an important tool in today's computing environment. It provides the user with better application performance every time a file is saved or retrieved and offers greater economy and longevity for nearly every PC made today. There will be little to no downtime in case a drive crashes. HyperDisk also supports fault-tolerant data redundancy during high performance applications at a cost-effective price and uses up to four low-cost UDMA/ATA 66 drives.

HyperDisk makes sense for almost every corporate, retail, industrial, home office and small office environment. It gives users more performance and response from their everyday applications when saving or retrieving a file. HyperDisk also links multiple hard drives to make one virtual hard drive and improves drive performance using data striping.

AMI is offering this low-cost hardware solution in response to the high demand from small businesses, home business owners and other end users. The Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the HyperDisk is $149 and it will be available February 2000.

     HyperDisk features include:

--   Maximizing Hard Drive Performance - supports the fastest Ultra
     ATA/66 hard drives, transfers data simultaneously from multiple
     drives and optimizes drive access;

--   Hard Drive Failure Protection - duplicates all drive data to a
     second drive, continues to work even if one drive fails and
     issues warnings before drives go bad; and

--   Advanced Manageability - an easy pre-boot setup program with
     automatic drive detection and configuration, a software utility
     for complete configuration information, software agents to track
     drive errors and automatic mirror drive rebuilding.

HyperDisk's components include a HyperDisk PCI adapter card with on-board ROM BIOS support and a boot-up configuration utility, mini-port device drivers for Windows(R) 95(R)/98(R)/NT(R)/2000(R), a control panel applet and a management console program. It also features BIOS Boot Specification (BBS) Support, which enables HyperDisk to appear as a bootable device inside the system BIOS.

Applications that benefit from HyperDisk's striping (RAID 0) performance enhancing features include high-end imaging programs such as AutoCAD and professional desktop publishing and design software. HyperDisk's mirroring (RAID 1) capabilities provide essential data redundancy and reliability in critical database applications, including patient databases (MS Access or SQL databases) in small doctor's offices. Smaller stores with computer systems/networks using databases for inventory, personnel or accounting purposes will also benefit from HyperDisk. These solutions need the reliability and redundancy RAID 1 provides.

End users who will benefit from HyperDisk include those who have systems that run graphic-intensive games and other applications. These users could gain additional benefits from the increased performance of RAID 0. Other end users who keep a large number of files, such as important documents and family pictures, will benefit from RAID 1's reliability and redundancy features by no longer having to worry about losing valuable or sentimental information due to disk failures.

With the addition of HyperDisk, AMI is now able to offer RAID solutions for the entire spectrum of system requirements. From the performance requirements of the desktop publishing entrepreneur to the capacity requirements of the home office, and from the graphic workstation to the small office server, AMI's HyperDisk is a perfect fit. Network Administrators who need high-end servers or vast amounts of data storage (100s of Gigabytes or even Terabytes) can supplement their HyperDisk workstations with systems using AMI's MegaRAID(R) family of controllers.

Founded in 1985, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) has dedicated its resources to providing OEMs, resellers and systems integrators with leading edge computer technologies. This privately held company, best known for its Basic Input/Output Systems or BIOS, also supplies its state-of-the-art hardware, software, utilities and RAID controllers to over 55 percent of today's high-tech manufacturers. Headquartered in Atlanta, AMI has locations in the U.S. and throughout the world including London, Madras, Munich, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo to better serve our customers. For more information on AMI, its products, services or reseller opportunities, call 1-800-U-BUY-AMI or visit www.ami.com. To find out additional information on HyperDisk, visit www.ami.com's HyperDisk page.

Key Words: IDE, IDE RAID, RAID, Storage, Hard Disk, Drives, Low Cost, Entry-Le Workstation, Graphics Application