HD STORAGE ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES FIRST INDUSTRY GATHERING.

The High Density Storage Association (HDSA) will host its first meeting on December 5, 2000 to launch its campaign to greatly increase the use of critically acclaimed automated storage technologies.

The gathering includes leaders of key hardware, software, and system vendors along with resellers and end user companies in the high-density storage industry. This group will create the first such association specifically targeting that industry.

"Even with the ever-increasing demand for storage at all levels of the computing world," said HDSA's Executive Director, Rich Harada, "automated technologies often have not been the first choice for storage. We aim to change that dramatically." Harada explained that the use of robotic automation in near-line and archive systems provides a clear advantage in density of storage, ease-of-use and lower cost-of-ownership. The HDSA will present a clear message to enterprise and government users about these advantages.

In addition, the HDSA's charter is complementary to existing bodies such as the Optical Storage Trade Association (OSTA) and the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), and the association will work closely with these other organizations in promoting both optical and high-density storage. While those bodies are aimed at standards development or network integration, the HDSA's membership will include CD/DVD/MO library and high-capacity tape vendors, storage management software developers and major integrators.

This opening meeting is being held at 5:00 pm Tuesday, December 5th, in South San Francisco at the Embassy Suites Hotel located at 250 Gateway Boulevard. Attendees will explore the HDSA's mission and goals for the coming year. The primary high-density storage vendors have already expressed a keen interest in participating as charter members of the HDSA, as have several enterprise end users and government agencies.

The HDSA is a non-profit trade organization and is open to all those interested in advancing high-density storage technologies. The association offers various membership levels for vendors, resellers, end users and individuals. It also provides an affiliate membership for non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and educational institutions--sites that are primary users of high-density storage.

The HDSA plans on two working groups--one aimed at the promotion of the technology, the other at coordinating with vendors on essential technical specifications for the industry. These would cover such areas as standardized product terminology, performance definitions and error codes reporting. The HDSA also intends on conducting original research on the installation, use and value of high-density storage.

The HDSA is the primary industry resource for promoting, integrating and using high-density storage devices including CD, DVD and MO as well as high capacity tape libraries. HDSA addresses those storage technologies that incorporate electro-mechanical, multi-drive connectivity and multi-disc availability. HDSA acts as a conduit for information exchange between the industry and customer.

HDSA is headquartered at 53 Crest Road, Hillsdale, NJ 07642. HDSA can be reached at 201-722-9890 or by fax at 201-722-9854. Further information is also available by e-mail at [e-mail]. An Internet site is being developed at http://www.highdensity.org.