DISC, Inc. Announces New Blue Laser-Based, Ultra Density Optical (UDO) Storage - Seamlessly Mix UDO and MO Drives in Existing DISC Orion Series Libraries
MILPITAS, CA (ots)
DISC Inc. (NASDAQ: DCSR), a leading manufacturer of automated network storage solutions, today announced their plans to integrate Ultra Density Optical (UDO), the next generation 5.25" professional optical storage technology, into their existing Orion series storage libraries. In addition, DISC plans to provide their current magneto- optical (MO) library customers with an upgrade path that allows a mixed MO and UDO operating environment.
The blue laser technology used in the UDO drives enables substantially greater data densities, resulting in dramatically higher media capacity. With 3X increase (30GB versus 9.1GB per media cartridge), customers will be able to purchase a highly cost- effective storage medium that is used for storing vast amounts of information, such as static content and reference data, or archival and permanent records which require adherence to legal retention requirements.
Multifunction UDO drives support both Write Once (WORM) and Rewritable media using Phase Change recording technology. The recording layer for UDO Rewritable media can be reheated by the blue laser so that data can be erased and rewritten, while UDO Write Once media uses an irreversible layer structure making it physically impossible for the drive to alter the data on the recording surface after it has been written.
"Blue laser and phase-change technologies represent major milestones for optical storage devices. The increase in bit density and faster data transfer rates will translate to dramatically lower price-per-gigabyte and substantially faster time-to-data," said Wolfgang Schlichting, Research Manager of Removable Storage at IDC. "Blue laser-based devices, such as UDO drives, will enable storage library manufacturers, such as DISC, to bring a whole new generation of high-capacity, high-performance networked storage solutions to market."
"I'm very excited to see a new generation of technology becoming available in the optical storage marketplace," said Bob Riland, President and CEO of DISC. "With the availability of the UDO technology, DISC customers will have a viable roadmap beyond the current MO technology. This advancement in technology improves the value proposition of DISC from both a price and performance perspective. Including UDO in our product offering also makes DISC products more viable in some of the higher performance storage applications."
The Orion series storage libraries with UDO technology that range in capacities from 4.2 TB to 31.5 TB are scheduled to be available in late fourth quarter of 2003. Upgrades to existing Orion systems will begin in Q1 2004.
About DISC:
Established in 1986, DISC, Inc., a manufacturer of automated networked storage solutions, delivers an extensive range of products offering scalable, reliable, high-data availability network storage for mission-critical applications. Headquartered in Milpitas, California, DISC, Inc. has sales and local customer support representation in over 40 countries. For a complete listing, check our website at www.disc-storage.com or contact us in North America at (800) 944-3472 or (408) 934-7000, and in Europe at 49 (0) 6721.964.430. DISC can also be reached at sales@disc- storage.com.
Safe Harbor
This release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements about the performance, cost, ease of integration, other advantages of the UDO technology, availability and adoption of UDO technology by the data storage market and our customers' ability to benefit from our services and technology are forward-looking statements. These statements are made based on our current beliefs and expectations. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. Risk factors that could affect our future include business conditions, economic conditions and growth in the data storage market, market acceptance of our products, our ability to keep pace with technological innovation and competitive developments, our ability to respond to changes in the data storage market, our ability to raise further capital which we anticipate will be required to finance our operations, the loss of key personnel, our history of losses, the loss of customers or distributors and increased competition and pricing pressure. For more information about factors that could potentially affect our financial results, please refer to our fillings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be accessed through the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of DISC.
Contact:
Suzy Andrade
Company: DISC, Inc.
Phone: +1/408-934-7000 ext. 120
E-Mail: sandrade@disc-storage.com
Internet: http://www.DISC-Storage.com