Stacker 4.0 for OS 2 & DOS breaks 2:1 compression barrier; Stacker Toolbox makes Presentation Manager debut.SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 1995--Stac Electronics (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :STAC 1. (language) STAC - Storage Allocation and Coding Program. 2. (company) STAC - The company responsible for Stacker and stac compression. http://stac.com/. ), the leading supplier of high performance compression products for data storage and communications, Monday announced availability of the new Stacker(a) 4.0 for OS/2(b) & DOS -- breaking the 2:1 compression barrier and bringing significant speed enhancements and the popular Stacker Toolbox feature to the OS/2 market. Taking advantage of improvements to the patented Stac LZS LZS Ludowe Zespoly Sportowe (Polish organization that promotes sports in rural areas) LZS Lempel Ziv STAC (data compression algorithm used in IPSEC protocol) (a) compression algorithm and Stac's SmartPack(a) technology, Stacker for OS/2 & DOS now matches the compression offered by Stacker 4.0 for Windows & DOS. With greater than 2:1 compression, Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 & DOS packs data more tightly onto a system's hard drive to provide users with the most disk space in the industry. Stacker 4.0 now operates as much as four times faster than previous versions, allowing users to gain more space without giving up system performance. New safety and compatibility features have also been added, as well as the new Stacker Toolbox, which gives users quick and convenient access from the OS/2 desktop to the utilities included with Stacker. ``Since our first release of Stacker in 1990, Stac has consistently shipped the category's best-of-breed, and Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 extends that franchise by delivering superior compression, more speed and useful new features to OS/2 users,'' said Bruce Behymer, Stacker for OS/2 & DOS Product Manager. Enhancements Tighter Compression: With Stac's SmartPack technology, normally wasted cluster level slack space The space between the end of a file and the end of the disk cluster it is stored in. Also called "file slack," it occurs naturally because data rarely fill fixed storage locations exactly, and residual data occur when a smaller file is written into the same cluster as a previous larger is eliminated. Stacker 4.0 combines SmartPack with Stac's patented LZS compression technology, now in its fourth generation, to store data more efficiently and maximize all available space. Although actual compression results may vary, OS/2 users can now benefit from the 2.5:1 average compression provided by Stacker 4.0. This advance was considered so significant that it allowed Stacker to win a second PC Magazine Technical Excellence Award, making it the only product ever to do so. Speed: Stacker now takes advantage of OS/2 system cache for maximum performance. Using the Stacker Tuner, users can now choose the best balance of space and speed. Set at MaxSpeed, Stacker now operates up to four times faster than the original release. Stacker Toolbox: Many Stacker commands can now be launched from the native OS/2 Stacker Toolbox. These commands include Check, Details, Report, Tune, and Sound/Sight Warnings. Using the Preferences screen, users can now be automatically alerted to important disk conditions, such as when it is time to run a defragmenter or perform a backup, by audio and visual cues. Easy Migration from DOS to OS/2: Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 & DOS automatically converts DoubleSpace(c), DriveSpace(c), and SuperStor/DS(b) drives to the Stacker 4.0 format so users can easily migrate to OS/2 Warp The client version of the OS/2 operating system. It includes peer-to-peer networking, fax and communications programs, multimedia viewing and editing applications and IBM Works (word processing, spreadsheet, database and other office tools). Introduced in late 1994 as Version 3. without having to uncompress their drives. Stacker also provides the room many users may require to move to Warp since installing just DOS, Windows, OS/2 Warp, and Warp's BonusPak(b) requires 104 MB of disk space. Stacker AutoSave See auto save. : Stacker 4.0 maintains duplicate sets of both DOS and Stacker file system information in an uncompressed state. These important backups allow a Stacker drive to be recovered even if the user has performed a quick format of the hard disk. Password Support: Users can now protect their data by assigning both read-write and read-only passwords to their Stacker drives. On-line Help: Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 & DOS provides easily accessible on- line help as part of the Stacker Toolbox and via an extensive OS/2 native Stacker Technical Reference. Compatibility: Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 & DOS is compatible with OS/2 Warp, OS/2 for Windows A special edition of OS/2 Version 2.1 for PCs that already had DOS and Windows 3.1 installed. It was less expensive than the full OS/2, because it did not include the Windows code. This was superseded by OS/2 Warp. See OS/2. , OS/2 LAN Server (1) A network operating system from IBM that runs as a server application under OS/2 and supports DOS, Windows and OS/2 clients. Originally based on LAN Manager when OS/2 was jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft, starting with LAN Server 3. , OS/2 2.11, 2.1, and 2.0 with Service Pack, MS-DOS MS-DOS in full Microsoft Disk Operating System Operating system for personal computers. MS-DOS was based on DOS, developed in 1980 by Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft Corp. bought the rights to DOS in 1981, and released MS-DOS with IBM's PC that year. (c) 5.0 and higher, PC-DOS The DOS operating system originally developed by Microsoft and supplied by IBM on its PCs before Windows 95 became the norm. Up until DOS 6, PC-DOS was almost identical to Microsoft's MS-DOS for non-IBM PCs, and both versions are called "DOS." See "IBM's DOS 6" under DOS 6. (b) 5.0 and higher; Novell DOS The name Novell gave to DR-DOS after it acquired it from Digital Research in 1991. Novell added NetWare client support to the product and released it as Novell DOS 7 in 1994. It was later dropped from the product line and then sold to Caldera. See DR-DOS and Caldera. 7.0(d), Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11(c) and Windows for Workgroups A version of Windows 3.1 introduced in 1992 that added peer-to-peer networking. See Windows. (operating system) Windows for Workgroups - (WFW, WFWG) A version of Windows 3.1 which works with a network. Although stand-alone 3. 3.11(c). The performance enhancement requires OS/2 2.11 or 2.1 with Service Pack or higher. The product includes drivers for both OS/2 and DOS so that, once installed, users can take advantage of OS/2's Dual Boot or Boot Manager features to run either OS/2 or DOS. Stacker 4.0 fully supports the FAT file system and is compatible with OS/2, Windows, and DOS applications. Pricing and Availability Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 & DOS is available through retail channels or directly from Stac. It is expected to sell through retail channels for less than $100. Upgrades and cross-grades are available directly from Stac for $69.95. Stacker 4.0 for OS/2 & DOS comes with 90 days of free technical support. The Company Founded in 1983, Stac offers software products that help users access, store and manage information more efficiently using personal computers. -0- (a) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Stac Electronics (b) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation (c) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation (d) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Novell Inc. CONTACT: Stac Electronics Lois Leslie, 619/794-4316 or GCI GCI Ground Circuit Interrupter GCI Getty Conservation Institute GCI Global Commerce Initiative GCI Green Cross International (non-profit international environmental organization) GCI Growth Competitiveness Index GCI Great Cities Institute Jennings Greg Peverill-Conti, 415/974-6200 |
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