Latest innovations in VXA demonstrate success of the format; provide best price/performance in any comparable tape product
BOULDER, Colo., May 30, 2006 - Members of the VXA Alliance today joined Exabyte Corp. (OTCBB: EXBY) in their continued commitment to VXA Packet Technology and for the recent release of the VXA-172 Packet Drive and Packet Loader. The newest members of the VXA product family provide SMBs with affordable, easy backup and recovery for critical business information using reliable, large capacity, high-speed VXA tape cartridges that can be removed to an off-site location for safekeeping.
VXA Alliance founding members Imation, Panasonic, Sony and TDK believe VXA Packet Tape is an ideal choice for SMB/departmental tape backup. The technology's durability, scalability and flexibility have made it a top choice for companies searching for the ultimate peace of mind in data protection with unmatched reliability, speed and capacity.
"Exabyte's continued development of VXA products brings additional choices to small and medium businesses in how best to store their mission-critical information," said Raja Srinivasan, senior manager, Symantec Technology Enabled Program, Symantec Corporation, the newest VXA Alliance Gold Member. "As the number one provider of backup and recovery software to VXA users, we appreciate Exabyte's ongoing support for the long-term satisfaction of SMB data protection."
The standalone VXA-172 Packet Drive provides a small business with a simple tape device that accepts one tape cartridge at a time, with 172* gigabytes of capacity today and 320* gigabytes when upgraded with Capacity On-Demand. For organizations wanting unattended backup, the VXA-172 Packet Loader has ten cartridge slots and a robotic mechanism for automatic, unattended operation. The VXA-172 Packet Loader offers up to 1.7* terabytes of capacity today and up to 3.2* terabytes Capacity On-Demand tomorrow and a standard barcode reader to manage cartridges.
"VXA technology continues to bring high value to the SMB user. The addition of scalability on-demand to a tried-and-true platform gives VXA a clear competitive advantage," said Bob Abraham, president of Freeman Reports. "Exabyte is providing key advantages in terms of cost of ownership to environments that depend on tape to protect, recover, and archive data."
"Tape-based backup continues to be a vital and viable option of safeguarding companies' corporate data and provides a cost-effective method of backup and restore operations," said Mike Pihowich, Global Product Strategy Manager, Imation Enterprises Corp. "We applaud Exabyte's continued commitment to the advancement of VXA Packet Technology and are eager to support the successful implementation of the VXA-172 Packet Drive and Packet Loader in businesses throughout the world."
VXA-172 provides support for a wide range of computing platforms and operating systems. VXA-172 is compatible with all major backup software vendors, and Exabyte will offer the drives with three interface options: Ultra2Wide SCSI is available now; Serial ATA and FireWire connections will be available later this year.
About VXA Packet Technology
VXA and its innovative read/write 'packet' architecture is the most significant advancement in tape storage technology in more than a decade. VXA Packet tape products offer a unique combination of greater capacity, faster data transfer rates and dramatically superior data reliability than other tape formats in the same class, all at comparable prices. Over three successive generations, VXA products have been disaster-tested by Exabyte and independent labs under the most severe conditions - including violent vibration, immersion in volcanic dust, boiling water and hot coffee, and even freezing cartridges in ice - to assure reliable and complete data restores.
VXA Packet Technology provides a digital solution to the long-standing mechanical problem of head-to-tape alignment - a common fault of conventional tape storage products that causes restore operations to fail. With VXA Packet Technology, VXA Packet Drives write and read data in individually addressed "packets," accomplished by sweeping the entire face of the tape rather than the conventional method of sequentially tracing every tiny track embedded on the tape. During the read duty cycle, discreet data packets are dynamically gathered and reassembled in the VXA buffer, similar to the manner in which data is reassembled via the Internet, resulting in dramatically increased data reliability. VXA Packet Technology eliminates the need for highly machined components to maintain tight tolerances within the drive, resulting in much greater capacity, speed and reliability at a lower cost.
VXA products are the only tape storage devices with a 4-level Reed-Solomon Error Correction Code (ECC), making data 180 times more likely to restore than competitive tape formats, even from a damaged tape. VXA Packet Drives are ideal for the rigors of automation, bringing to market a new class of highly reliable, full-featured and affordable tape automation products for the SMB and departmental markets. (See IDC report at www.exabyte.com/idcreport.)
About The VXA Alliance
The VXA Alliance, which includes many of the world's most prominent names in data storage, is a tape storage industry group focused on providing information and education to the marketplace on the benefits of the VXA Packet Tape format and advocating for the continued global adoption of VXA as a standard for the SMB and departmental markets. VXA drives and autoloaders have been selected by many of the world's leading OEMs, including IBM, Apple, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, and Fujitsu Ltd., providing a definitive endorsement of the VXA platform as the new standard for tape storage in its class. For more information, visit www.VXA.com.
