Tandberg Data Introduces Fourth Generation LTO Drive.

New LTO-4 Drive Offers 120 MB/s Native Transfer Rate, 800 GB Native Capacity and Hardware-Based Data Encryption 

BOULDER, Colo. -- Tandberg Data Corporation (OSE: TAD), a leading global supplier of backup and archiving technologies, announced the availability of the next generation tape drive based on Linear Tape Open[TM] (LTO[TM]) Generation 4 technology, offering new levels of performance, capacity, and functionality. With 800 GB native capacity, 120 MB/s native transfer rate, data encryption, ADI automation interface and SCSI, SAS or FC host interface, the Tandberg LTO-4 Full-height (FH) drive is ideal for use in higher end server environments, both as a stand-alone drive and in tape automation.

As businesses today are challenged by exponential data growth, limited backup windows, regulatory requirements, and limited resources, the need for affordable, reliable and secure archiving solutions continues to grow. With increased speed and capacity along with its new hardware-based encryption capabilities, the LTO Generation 4 is well-suited to address the growing demands for reliable, high-performance data protection.

Capacity, Performance, and Features

With a data transfer rate of 120 MB/s or 432 GB/hr (native), the LTO-4 drive is 50 percent faster than LTO Generation 3, and the capacity has doubled from 400 GB (native) in LTO-3 to 800 GB (native) per cartridge for LTO-4, offering 1.6 TB capacity with standard 2:1 compression. The new drive also offers a myriad of features to improve performance, reliability and manageability. With its new hardware-based encryption, the LTO-4 drive can write encrypted data directly to the LTO Ultrium tape cartridge, adding another level of security to the storage and transport of sensitive information. Digital Speed Matching, a 256 MB buffer and Dynamic Compression all improve drive performance. Diagnostic routines, such as the Statistical Analysis and Reporting System, assist in isolating failures between media and hardware, and Adaptive Tape Threading protects against failures during cartridge loads by verifying tape speed, the tape spinning wheel, and modulating the tape thread by providing tension control. Independent tape loader and threader motors and positive pin retention ensure that the pin will be retained during a miss-pick. Graceful Dynamic Braking allows the reel motors to gradually decelerate, instead of stopping abruptly during an unexpected power down.

"With the increased need for high performance and high capacity data protection systems, companies need a reliable, safe, and cost effective solution", says Kjell Oyvind Aasene, Vice President of Product Management, Tandberg Data. "The LTO-4 offers up to 1.6 TB of data on a single cartridge, lowering the total cost of ownership. The 128-bit encryption provides users with enhanced security to make sure that sensitive information will not be accessible after theft or accidental loss of media."

The LTO Ultrium format Generation 4 continues to offer WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) functionality that debuted in Generation 3 products, providing a cost-effective means for storing data in a non-rewriteable format to help address regulatory and compliance requirements.

LTO Ultrium Roadmap

The LTO Ultrium format Generation 4 provides read-and-write backward-compatibility with Generation 3 and backward read capability with Generation 2, helping to protect customers' investment in LTO technology. LTO's six generation roadmap scales up to 6.4 TB (compressed) in a single cartridge with transfer rates up to 540 MB/s (assuming 2:1 compression), making it the technology standard of choice for backup, restore and archiving applications in both stand-alone and automated environments for years to come.

Pricing and Availability

The new LTO-4 is now available through Tandberg Data's worldwide channel of distribution and reseller partners. The Tandberg Data LTO-4 FH Tape Drive ships with standard cabling, a data cartridge, a cleaning cartridge, and Symantec Backup Exec QuickStart Edition. It includes a three-year, return-to-factory warranty and advanced replacement service. The estimated street price for an LTO-4 Drive is approximately $4,500. Tandberg Data also has very competitive LTO-4 media pricing with an estimated street price of $145 per cartridge. For more information, visit www.tandbergdata.com/us.

About Tandberg Data

Tandberg Data is a leading global supplier of backup and archiving technologies. Tandberg Data offers a complete range of tape libraries, tape autoloaders and tape drives (based on the LTO[TM], SLR[TM], VXA([R]) and DLTtape([R]) tape technology platforms), storage software, data media and disk-based storage such as the RDX[TM] QuikStor. These solutions are marketed exclusively through a channel of qualified resellers and distributors.

These solutions are underpinned by OEM agreements with major server manufacturers including IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens, Apple and Dell and supported by all major operating systems and storage software applications to operate in heterogeneous network environments. All solutions are designed to meet the growing storage requirements of small and medium-sized organizations with scalability, reliability and backward compatibility features that ensure cost effective operation and long-term investment protection.

In addition to corporate offices in Oslo, Norway, TANDBERG DATA ASA has subsidiaries in the USA, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore, as well as branch offices in Italy, India, and China (PRC) Thailand and Brazil. TANDBERG DATA ASA is a publicly held company based in Oslo, Norway and is traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker=TAD). For further information, please visit www.tandbergdata.com.

RDX QuikStor, BAKStor, and SLR are trademarks of Tandberg Data ASA. RDX is a registered trademark of ProStor Systems, Inc. DLT, DLTtape, DLT, SDLT and Super DLTtape are registered trademarks of Quantum Corporation. LTO is a trademark of HP, IBM and Seagate. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.