CNN News Group Chooses Ampex Archive System for Commercial Centralization Project; Ampex DST 812 Data Library Will Consolidate Commercial Spot Storage.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 11, 1998--CNN News Group, based in Atlanta, has purchased an Ampex DST(r) 812 12.8 Terabyte automated cartridge library to store the commercial content for a new video server-based commercial playout system.

The Ampex library will archive and restore MPEG files to and from a pair of Silicon Graphics Origin(r) 2000 servers, which will, in turn, feed a fibre channel network of Tektronix Profile(r) PDR-200 video file servers used to air commercials for the CNN News Group.

The consolidated system will greatly enhance operational efficiency and significantly reduce the physical space required to support the operation.

"With over 500 files moving in or out of the archive daily, the high performance DST 812 library, which is particularly suited for large image systems, is a perfect match for the CNN News Group application," said John Hennessy, Ampex director of business development. "The total cycle time to archive or retrieve a file is significantly reduced by the library's high continuous transfer speed, extremely fast robotics, short cartridge load time, search speed of 1600MB per second and capability to load and unload cartridges at system zones located throughout the tape."

Commented Bill Bratton, director of technology applications at Turner Broadcasting System Inc.: "No other system does what the Ampex DST 812 library can do. The overall speed of the system allows us to use fewer tape drives than would be required by other systems, and its operational flexibility to partition cartridges permits us to replace commercials as they expire without impacting other files on the tape."

The current Ampex DST product line scales from stand-alone drives to automated cartridge libraries storing from 50 Gigabytes to 12.8 Terabytes, with transfer rates of 20 Megabytes per second per drive. Information on Ampex products is available on the World Wide Web at www.ampex.com, by calling 800/752-7590 or by email at [e-mail].

The CNN News Group is one of the largest and most profitable electronic news and information companies in the world. The hub of the CNN News Group is the Cable News Network (CNN), distributed to 73 million U.S. households. Altogether, the CNN News Group is available to more than 800 million people worldwide with six cable and satellite television networks (CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN International, CNNfn, CNN/SI and CNN Espanol), three private, out-of-home networks, two radio networks, eight Web sites and CNN Newsource, the world's most extensively syndicated news service.

Ampex Corp. (AMEX:AXC), with headquarters in Redwood City, is one of the world's leading providers of technologies for the acquisition, storage and processing of visual information. Today, Ampex is delivering digital image solutions for large-scale corporate, government, network, entertainment and telecommunications applications. During its more than 50-year history of innovation, Ampex has been granted thousands of patents and numerous awards for technical achievement. Ampex customers include such leading organizations as AT&T, Boeing, HBO, Mobil Oil, Time Warner and NASA.

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