Spectra Logic announces record-shattering backup performance for Oracle7 on Digital's AlphaServer system;.

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 29, 1996--

Significantly enhanced scaleability possible with Alexandria

Spectra Logic Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., Oracle Corp. and Storage Technology Corp. today announced record-shattering demonstration results using Spectra Logic's Alexandria Backup Librarian Software with Oracle's database software, Digital Equipment's AlphaServer and StorageTek's tape products.

Alexandria's high-performance and low-CPU overhead shows that "hot" backup of an online Oracle7 database at 1.5 Terabytes-per-hour is achievable. The results validate the power and scaleability of Digital's AlphaServer 8400 system, StorageTek tape drives and Alexandria for backing up Oracle7 databases.

"The low-CPU overhead used by Alexandria to achieve this performance is particularly significant," said Fara Yale, director and principal analyst at Dataquest, a Gartner Group company. "Customers with large databases require a solution that provides both high-performance and low overhead without compromise."

Alexandria backed up an online ("hot") Oracle7 database at 505.5 GB/hour with less than 10% CPU overhead, as well as an offline ("cold") backup at 542 GB/hour with less than 3% overhead using a Digital AlphaServer 8400 with eight 300 MHz Alpha CPUs, 8 GB of memory, 440 GB StorageWorks Disk Subsystem and 15 StorageTek Redwood tape drives. The "hot" backup utilized Oracle's Enterprise Backup Utility (EBU) with Alexandria.

The low CPU usage not only leaves the system available for transactions and other applications, but also demonstrates further capacity to scale. On a Digital AlphaServer, Alexandria has CPU headroom for a projected transfer rate of more than 1.5 Terabytes-per-hour.

"This clearly establishes the Digital AlphaServer 8400 and Alexandria as a superior solution for customers with Very Large Database (VLDB) requirements," said Don Harbert, vice president of Digital's UNIX Business Segment. "UNIX customers can now backup their enterprisewide database systems with the assurance that mainframe-class products are available to protect their businesses."

"Alexandria's exceptional ability to allow Oracle users to continue running transactions while performing a hot backup is critical," said Robert S. Pariseau, vice president, Digital Products Division at Oracle. "Oracle7 customers running mission-critical databases can now perform hot backups without compromising their service levels."

The demonstration underscores the need for high-performance backup in an era of explosive data growth. Data warehousing, data mining and VLDB management are pivotal business concerns, and the ability to back them up in time, or at all, is of paramount concern to users, RDBMS vendors and system hardware providers. Fast, live backup and low CPU utilization permits users, for the first time, to complete more frequent backups without impacting database access or performance.

StorageTek's Global Partners Group Vice President, Chuck Schmidt explained, "Today's customers want to combine a variety of products that allow them to deliver the highest level of system availability while protecting their data. StorageTek, Digital and Spectra Logic provide a demonstrated superior enterprisewide solution for Oracle customers."

"All customers benefit from Alexandria's performance and scaleability," said Nathan C. Thompson, CEO of Spectra Logic. "As a customer's data requirements grow, Alexandria provides a seamless, non-disruptive solution to protect their data now and into the next century."

A white paper with complete data and configuration information will be available from Spectra Logic (http://www.spectralogic.com), Oracle (http://www.oracle.com), Digital Equipment (http://www.digital.com), and StorageTek (http://www.stortek.com). Hard copies will be available through each company as well.

Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open client/server solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide information systems. Digital's scaleable Alpha and Intel platforms, storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete and win in today's global marketplace.

Oracle Corporation is the world's second largest software company, and the largest supplier of software for information management. With annual revenues of more than $4.2 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products, along with related consulting, education, and support services in more than 90 countries around the world.

Storage Technology Corporation designs, manufactures, markets and services worldwide information storage and retrieval subsystems for enterprisewide computer systems and networks. The company reported revenue of $1.93 billion in its fiscal year ended December 29, 1995. Information on StorageTek is available on the Internet at http://www.stortek.com.

Spectra Logic Corporation is a leading provider of high-performance, enterprisewide backup and archival software for UNIX filesystems, database environments, and Internet Web Servers. Used by Fortune 1000 companies worldwide, Alexandria provides automated backup, sophisticated backup management, and complete reliability. In addition to Digital UNIX, Alexandria is available as a client and a server on more than 20 UNIX platforms and available through Spectra Partners or OEM partners (Sequent, Pyramid, and Encore). -0-

NOTE: Digital, the Digital logo, AlphaServer, StorageWorks and the StorageWorks logo are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Equipment Corp. Oracle, the Oracle logo, Enterprise Backup Utility and Oracle7 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

StorageTek, the StorageTek logo and Redwood are trademarks or registered trademarks of Storage Technology Corporation.

Alexandria, the Alexandria logo and Spectra Logic logo are trademarks of Spectra Logic Corporation.

CONTACT: Spectra Logic Corporation

John Kranz, [phone]

[e-mail]

or

Digital Equipment Corporation

Paul Collins, [phone]

[e-mail]

or

Oracle Corporation

Dan Berkowitz, [phone]

[e-mail]

or

Storage Technology Corp.

David Reid, [phone]

[e-mail]

or

Spectra Logic Corporation

John Metzger/Metzger Assoc., [phone]

[e-mail]