Press Release

Tandberg Data Announces StorageLoader
2U LTO autoloader with 4th Generation LTO Technology

StorageLoader 2U LTO is ideally suited for busy SMBs and departmental organization seeking robust, reliable, and easy-to-use automated data protection solutions

July 2, 2007: Tandberg Data (OSE: TAD), a leading global supplier of backup and archiving technologies, today announced the availability of the StorageLoader 2U LTO with fourth-generation LTO tape drive technology (LTO-4). The StorageLoader 2U LTO, built with patented robotics systems recognized worldwide for reliability, includes a robust feature set, a software bundle from Symantec, and plug-and-play simplicity all at an affordable price, making the capacity and performance of LTO-4 automation accessible to data-intense SMBs and departmental organizations.

Businesses today continue to grapple with exponential data growth, shrinking backup windows, and limited resources as well as the demands of regulatory requirements. The need for affordable, reliable, and secure archiving solutions is mission critical for business of all sizes. With increased speed and capacity and the new hardware-based encryption capabilities of LTO-4, coupled with the ease-of-use and convenience of automation, the StorageLoader 2U LTO-4 is well-suited to address the ever-growing demands for affordable, reliable, high-performance data protection.

"The StorageLoader 2U LTO, now with LTO-4, continues Tandberg Data's tradition of innovation in LTO automation," said Patrick Clarke, Senior executive vice president of global sales, marketing and service, Tandberg Data. "The StorageLoader 2U LTO offers network administrators the performance and reliability of LTO-4 and the resource-saving convenience of award-winning automation with remote management - all in a robust, compact 2U solution with the lowest TCO in its category."

About the StorageLoader 2U LTO with LTO-4

Developed specifically for data-intense SMBs, departmental organizations, and mid-range enterprises, the StorageLoader 2U LTO with an LTO-4 drive and two 10-cartridge magazines delivers native data transfer speeds of 120 MB/s or 432 GB/Hr and total native capacity of 16 TB in a compact, 2U rackmount enclosure. The StorageLoader 2U LTO delivers full-featured capabilities as well as user-friendly installation and configuration.

Other tape library vendors may charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars extra for these key library features. The StorageLoader 2U LTO is ideal for use in multi-server environments and offers support for WORM functionality along with its industry-leading standard features, affordability and warranty support.

The loader's elegant design allows existing StorageLoader 2U LTO users with legacy LTO drives to easily swap out their prior-generation LTO drives and install new LTO-4 drives with the loader still in its rack. This feature extends users' hardware investment and dramatically reduces upgrade costs while immediately achieving new levels of capacity and speed with LTO-4 technology. The innovative "upgrade-in-the-field" capability is one of the many benefits of Tandberg Data's renowned engineering, widely recognized as the most intelligently designed automation robotics in the world.

4th Generation LTO Features

In addition to high capacity, performance and flexibility, the StorageLibrary T40 hosts a range of enterprise class features that offer users full control of their library. Partitioning allows multiple servers to use one library whilst maintaining control of its allocated resources. Using the browser based remote management interface, administrators can remotely monitor, control, configure and diagnose the Tandberg StorageLibrary T40 via the Internet from anywhere in the world. Through the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the library is continuously monitored and will provide information of any error situation to its host. Surveillance systems continuously monitor system temperature and fan fault detection is enabled. Email notification will allow the StorageLibrary T40 to automatically send an email notification to any specific address if something is wrong with the library.

Tandberg LTO-4

The new LTO-4 tape drive provides 100% more capacity and 50% greater transfer speed than the popular LTO-3 drive, bringing native capacity to 800 GB (1.6 TB compressed) and native transfer speed to 120 MB per second (240 MB/sec compressed). The increased capacity and speed shortens the time needed for backup and restore processes - a key benefit for companies with increasing data storage requirements and shrinking backup windows. The LTO-4 drive outperforms all other tape drives in its class on the market today, allowing users to replace multiple drives with a single LTO-4 autoloader, which reduces points of failure in network architecture and lowers the total cost of ownership for tape drive hardware and media.

The next-generation LTO-4 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.

WORM Functionality

The Tandberg LTO-4 drive supports WORM (Write Once, Read Many). WORM functionality helps users meet regulatory compliance requirements. Government regulations imposed by the SEC and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have established guidelines on how long data should be retained, kept secure, and remain unaltered. The WORM functionality in the Tandberg LTO-4 drive will offer users cost effective, long-term archiving, allowing them to store unaltered data for decades.

Robust algorithms using the Cartridge Memory (CM) in conjunction with low-level encoding that is mastered on the tape media at the time of manufacture are designed to prevent tampering. The LTO Ultrium format generation 4 specifications include the ability for WORM-enabled and non-WORM-enabled drives to co-exist. In addition, appending data at the end of a WORM cartridge which was previously written to is supported, thus allowing customers to take full advantage of the high capacity tape media.

Pricing and Availability

The StorageLoader 2U LTO-4 is available immediately throughout EMEA via the company's network of distributors and resellers. Estimated price for the StorageLoader 2U LTO with one full-height LTO-4 drive (SCSI) and 20 slots is below €5600. The loader ships standard with a barcode scanner, Ethernet-based remote management, a single import/export media drawer, a rack mount kit, a 20-cartridge magazine, and Symantec® Backup Exec QuickStart Edition™ software and is protected by a three-year warranty and one year Advanced Replacement Service (component level only). An extension of both the warranty and on-site-service is available as an option. For more information on Tandberg Data products or to find a distributor in your area.

For further information please contact:

Marije Stijnen
Corporate Marketing Manager
Tandberg Data
Tel.: +44 (0)7909 90 60 12
Email: marije.stijnen(at)tandbergdata.com