Initio Corp. Introduces Industry's First Integrated PCI-Based UltraSCSI-and-Fast Ethernet Adapter Card; Initio IOBahn Integrates High-Bandwidth I/O, Dramatically Lowers Cost of Servers, Workstations and PCs.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 1997--Initio Corp., a leading developer of input/output (I/O) products for the computer industry, today announced a major development and industry first in I/O technology.

Initio has introduced the industry's first Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) adapter card to integrate high-performance Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) and Ethernet. The Initio(r) IOBahn(tm) adapter -- blending two separate UltraSCSI (20MB/sec) or UltraWideSCSI (40MB/sec) channels with Fast Ethernet (100MB/sec) port -- both maximizes the efficiency and significantly reduces the overall I/O cost in servers, workstations and PCs.

At a suggested retail price of $324 for the UltraSCSI version and $374 for UltraWideSCSI, the Initio IOBahn provides computers with the highest level of peripheral connectivity and networking at a price as much as 40 percent lower than that of two-card UltraSCSI-Fast Ethernet solutions. A bus-mastering card based on the latest Initio INIC(r)-950 SCSI chip, Intel 82557(r) and the PCI 2.1 specification, the Initio IOBahn enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), resellers and systems integrators to build Pentium(r) and PentiumPro-based computers with unprecedented I/O capabilities. Such powerful systems can meet the growing performance demands of Fortune 1000 companies and myriad business applications, such as data, CD-ROM and Web servers.

"With the IOBahn, Initio is expanding its I/O base beyond the traditional SCSI realm, for which the company has developed a solid reputation as a provider of affordably priced, industry-compatible SCSI host adapters and software," said Sassan Teymouri, president and CEO at Initio.

"Initio has taken their expertise in SCSI to the next level by integrating the Fast Ethernet function to create and deliver a cost-effective, technically sound, high-performance I/O solution to their customers," said Krishna Shankar, vice president of the research department at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities.

MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY

The Initio IOBahn is a complete networking and storage solution for data, Web and CD-ROM servers. The ready-to-install kit is available in two configurations: one featuring Initio INI(r)-9520U UltraSCSI-Fast Ethernet adapter, and the other with the INI-9520UW UltraWideSCSI-Fast Ethernet card. Each kit includes installation software, as well as support for all major operating systems. Either kit provides maximum flexibility in building computer systems for current and future applications; a system equipped with the card and specially designed Initio software can grow with an organization's needs.

With two UltraSCSI/UltraWideSCSI channels, the Initio IOBahn allows as many as 30 diverse SCSI peripherals -- older legacy devices can be configured along with the newest high-performance drives -- to be added as needed. Having two SCSI channels also enables faster disk drives to operate on one channel, segregating them from slower devices, such as tape drives, scanners, magneto-optical devices, that would otherwise bog down overall system performance.

Likewise on the Initio IOBahn's Ethernet port, flexibility is paramount. A computer -- whether a desktop system or network server -- can use 10Mbit/sec 10Base-T Ethernet until the network migrates to 100Mbit/sec Fast Ethernet, at which time the auto-negotiation feature of INI-9520U/UW will simply upgrades the system to the higher-performance level.

KEY FEATURES, BENEFITS

The Initio IOBahn blends the best of SCSI peripheral connectivity and Ethernet networking capabilities into a single, cost-effective solution that takes advantage of PCI's 132MB/sec burst rate. Key features and resulting benefits include:

-- UltraSCSI/UltraWideSCSI I/O, delivering data rates of up to 40MB/sec per channel, 8000 I/Os per second per channel(a);

-- Two UltraSCSI/UltraWideSCSI channels, connecting up to 30 devices to a single PCI slot and maximizing overall system performance by separating slower peripherals from much-faster UltraSCSI/UltraWideSCSI disks;

-- Backward compatibility with legacy SCSI and SCSI-2 devices, conserving past investments in peripherals;

-- Industry-standard PCI 2.1 compatibility, delivering burst rates of up to 132MB/sec;

-- Full-duplex 10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet with auto-negotiation, providing high-speed network access to desktop computers or network servers;

-- Integration of two powerful I/O technologies on a single board, freeing valuable computers' PCI slots;

-- SmartI/O(tm) BIOS-resident set-up utility, enabling users to control which drive and through which channel the computer boots, as well as individual device configuration and adapter termination;

-- EasiInstall(tm) software, simplifying SCSI and Ethernet software installation in the DOS and Windows(r) operating systems;

-- Auto-configuration and -termination, simplifying the Initio IOBahn's installation in PCI Plug-and-Play environments;

-- Support for all major operating systems, including DOS, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, NetWare(f) 4.1x, SCO(r) Unix, UnixWare(r), OS/2(r) 4.0 and Linux(r);

-- Support for Ethernet drivers for Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, NetWare 4.x and OS/2.

(a) Benchmark used is IO-bench, 4K sequential block, 8 Ultra-SCSI disks per channel

AVAILABILITY AND PRICING

The Initio IOBahn is available in the distribution channel through Merisel at a suggested retail price of $324 and $374 for the UltraSCSI and UltraWideSCSI versions, respectively. The INI-9520U/UW adapters are also available to OEMs directly from Initio.

Initio Corp. (WWW.INITIO.COM) is a privately held maker of input/output solutions for the microcomputer industry, including Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) host adapters and software. Founded in 1994, Initio is based in San Jose, Calif. -0-

Note to Editors: Initio and INIC are registered trademarks and IOBahn, SmartI/O and EasiInstall are trademarks of Initio Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Commonground Communications

Jerry Steach, 415/967-3071

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