Message #4 From:
NewsBot Date: November 15, 2005 01:00:00 AM
EXBY News VXA Alliance Grows with Additional Prominent Storage Industry Members; New Storage Industry Group Advocating VXA More Than Doubles Membership
BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2005--
Recent Analyst Report Documents VXA's Global Market Share Leadership in Tape Automation for SMB and Departmental Markets
Worldwide momentum for Exabyte's (OTCBB:EXBY) VXA Packet tape format continues to grow. The VXA Alliance announced today a cadre of new members to the organization, including Adaptec, Computer Associates, Excelstor, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Ingram Micro, Symantec/VERITAS, Tech Data, and TOLIS Group. These companies join founding members Imation, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Ltd. (Panasonic), Sony, TDK, and Exabyte. Each member company has committed financial or other resources to the mission of the organization. The VXA Alliance is a tape storage industry group focused on providing information and education to the marketplace on the benefits of VXA and advocating for the continued global adoption of the technology. VXA Packet tape format utilizes discreet digital data packets rather than traditional linear tracks resulting in dramatically enhanced data reliability.
"The VXA Alliance member companies have a common goal: helping customers address their data storage needs in a reliable and cost effective manner," said Jim Ellis, General Manager of Global Product Strategy at Imation. "The growing number of prominent storage industry players joining in our collective efforts is further evidence of the global market energy behind the VXA format."
VXA's worldwide momentum is well earned. 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. (For details, please visit www.exabyte.com/technology/tested.)
Because of this rigorous testing, businesses around the world have discovered that VXA fulfills its promise of providing "the most reliable restore in tape" in both drive and automation products. VXA's reputation for reliability is also showing up in market data. A recent report from IDC on worldwide tape automation shipments and revenue showcases VXA's rapid market growth. "The IDC Worldwide Tape QView, October 2005" documents Exabyte's market leadership position in the low-end tape automation market, which Exabyte classifies as "entry-level" automation primarily for SMBs and departmental markets. The report indicates that as of the end of the second quarter of 2005 Exabyte is the clear market leader in this sector with a 38% market share (in revenue), nearly twice that of the nearest competitor. IDC defines low-end automation as primarily autoloaders with one of the following technologies imbedded inside: VXA, DDS/DAT, DLT VS, AIT-1/2 and SLR.
Today's announcement follows a string of significant VXA-related news during the last month:
-- Exabyte's worldwide launch of VXA's third generation products on October 4, 2005, which included the VXA-320 Packet Drive, which records up to 320 GB to a single cartridge at a data transfer rate of up to 24 MB/sec. (compressed), and the VXA-320 PacketLoader 1x10, a full-featured, sleek 1u autoloader with 10 cartridge slots offering up to 3.2 TB of capacity, plus a bar code reader and Ethernet port for remote management -- both standard.
-- The official announcement of the formation of the VXA Alliance on October 12, 2005.
-- IDC's report on worldwide tape automation shipments and revenue in October, establishing Exabyte as the worldwide market share leader in entry-level tape automation.
-- Exabyte's recent announcement of an OEM agreement with Fujitsu Siemens Computers, who selected Exabyte's VXA-320 Packet Drive and the VXA-320 PacketLoader 1x10 to market and sell to small and medium-sized enterprises as the FibreCAT TXV and FibreCAT TX10 PacketLoader, respectively.
Disaster-tested VXA products are available through the world's leading OEMs and through Exabyte's worldwide distribution and reseller networks. For more information about VXA Packet Technology and to learn more about the VXA Alliance, visit www.VXA.com.
About VXA Packet Technology
Exabyte's patented and award-winning VXA Packet Technology, with 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 issue with conventional tape storage products that causes data 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, Exabyte's patented tape format, utilizes discreet digital data packets rather than traditional tracks resulting in dramatically enhanced data reliability. 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.
