Creative Digital Research and DynaTek Form a Strategic Alliance; to Bring a Complete CD-Recordable Solution for UNIX, Windows 95, NT and 3.x Platforms.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 1997--Creative Digital Research (CDR), a leading software developer, and DynaTek Automation Systems Inc., a premier hardware supplier, have joined forces to create solutions that address the entire range of needs in the CD recordable market.

CDR's HyCD software, when teamed with DynaTek's CD-Recordable drives, allow users to make a single CD-ROM that is native to the UNIX, Macintosh, Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 3.x operating environments.

"This is a strategic alliance between two companies with similar visions that will help them leverage their technology for a greater whole than sum of parts," said Richard Khan, product marketing manager at DynaTek. "Creative Digital Research brings unique CD recording software to us and we bring unique hardware capabilities to them. The combination of feature sets is a great one."

For the first product bundle, DynaTek has agreed to bundle its CDM 4000 quad-speed CD mastering system with CDR HyCD Multimedia, CDR's revolutionary CD-ROM premastering software.

"What's unique about the CDM 4000 is that you can unplug the computer from the recorder after you create the first CD-ROM and it acts as a standalone duplication station with user-friendly control panel," said Paul Ling, president of Creative Digital Research. "That's really useful in networking and enterprise environments."

The CDM 4000 is the first UNIX production system that offers the power and ease of use of the HyCD software. The unit contains a quad-speed CD-ROM recorder, a quad-speed CD-ROM reader, a 1GB multimedia hard drive and a controller that brings all of these devices together.

It guarantees an uninterrupted data path from the hard drive to the recorder to avoid data underrun which causes wasted media. The unit supports data transfer rates ranging from 150Kbyte per second to 600Kbyte per second (quad-speed). Information is transferred to the mastering station to free up the PC for user use immediately.

The CDM 4000 with CDR HyCD Multimedia lets recordable CD-ROM users create a single CD-ROM for UNIX workstations, Macintosh computers and Windows PCs. It integrates ISO 9660 (for the PC), Joint File System (for Windows 95 and Windows NT), HFS (for the Mac) and ISO 9660 with Rock Ridge Extension (for UNIX) formats on a single CD-ROM, so that the CD-ROM is available to any platform in its native environment.

A second product bundle will include DynaTek's CDM 400 4x CD-ROM recorders and CDR's HyCD software. The CDM 400 features a metal sub-chassis with a heavy fire-retardant exterior.

Both CDM 400 and CDM 4000 come with a comprehensive warranty and lifetime technical support, and include premium quality accessories. DynaTek puts all of its products through extensive temperature and performance testing prior to shipment.

"DynaTek has a list of products in its line that ranges from a simple CD-ROM recorder that plugs directly into the back of a standalone personal computer or workstation to a unit which has an integrated hard disk and recorder that is great for a networked or multiuser environment," said CDR's Ling.

HyCD's intuitive and easy-to-use interface allows both beginning and advanced users to get up and publishing quickly. In addition, the interface is maintained across all platforms that the program supports, so users that switch from one platform to another have virtually no learning curve. Creating a CD-ROM is a three-step process: select where the data currently resides; transfer the data to the target device; and start the recording process.

"This is the only software currently available to create cross platform CD-ROMs for the Sun, Solaris, SGI, UNIX, Windows 95, Windows NT, and Apple Macintosh platforms," said CDR's Ling. "You can load a HyCD-ROM into a UNIX workstation, Macintosh computer or Windows PC and any of those operating systems will access the CD in its native environment for faster CD-ROM access."

Both the CDM 4000 and CDR HyCD support virtually all CD-ROM standards (including ISO 9660, Mac HFS, MPC-2, CD-Audio, CD-1, Rock Ridge, CD-ROM XA, Multisession and Video CD) and are compatible with DOS, Windows and Macintosh. HyCD also supports UNIX.

For more information on CDR HyCD, contact Jacqueline Gillooly, director of sales and marketing at Creative Digital Research, 909/793-6655. Visit CDR's Web site at http://www.HyCD.com or email [e-mail].

For information on the CDM 4000, CDM 400 or the hardware/software bundle, contact DynaTek at 800/461-0052 (U.S.), 800/461-8855 (Canada) or fax [phone].

Additional information can be downloaded from DynaTek's Web site at http://www.dynatek.ca .

Founded in 1992, Creative Digital Research specialih-performance storage solutions, including hard disk, CD-ROM, optical, tape, removable

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