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Contact Agency:
Judy Smith
JPR Communications
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Contact Client:
Caroline Mead
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
650-316-5925
caroline@dinostor.com

DINOSTOR TAPESERVER ENABLES NETWORK BACKUP, PROTECTS INVESTMENTS IN TAPE LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY

Reduces cost and complexity while improving performance and reliability of network backup operations

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - August 12, 2002 - DinoStorT, a division of Global Automation, Inc., today unveiled the DinoStor TapeServer, a network backup appliance that allows a single automated tape library to be easily shared across an existing Ethernet network. Now multiple Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP)-compliant NAS servers, application servers and mail servers can share a single library, reducing the cost and complexity, while improving performance and reliability of network backup operations.

"The proliferation of mid-range to enterprise NAS installations continues to escalate as such does the need for better tape backup hardware and management tools," said Steve Kenniston, senior analyst at The Enterprise Storage Group. "Two of the major problems IT professionals face today in the networked attached storage world are: the growing amount of data that must be backed up in shorter periods of time and the degradation of NAS appliance performance during these backups. DinoStor has set out to address these issues with its TapeServer technology. TapeServer provides IT professionals a solution to offload backup processes from their NAS appliances, increase backup and restore speeds and maximize tape library resources through pooling."

DinoStor TapeServer is a simple-to-install, easy-to-manage network backup appliance that provides standards-based, vendor- and platform-independent library sharing without the management problems, performance degradation and vendor lock-in inherent in alternative proprietary library sharing designs. DinoStor TapeServer is the only library sharing solution that gives customers complete investment protection of their existing tape library and network infrastructures.

According to Jim Ward, CEO of Reliaty, Inc., a leader in advanced data protection software, "Customers are demanding higher performance and greater return-on-investment from their NAS infrastructure. TapeServer lives up to its promised reduced backup cost, increased NAS and backup performance and ease of management. Its network-attached secondary storage model serves IT environments of all sizes."

"DinoStor TapeServer fulfills the potential of the NDMP architecture, while creating a new product class - Network Enabled Backup - to provide a true universal platform for library sharing across the network," said Srini Sankaran, President and CEO of DinoStor. "The shared access, high performance and enhanced data availability enabled by the TapeServer delivers many of the benefits of SAN-based backup without the associated cost, complexity and interoperability challenges. The ability for our customers to share their large-scale automated libraries among multiple NDMP servers makes a compelling case for the value proposition of the DinoStor TapeServer."

Unlike competitive sharing alternatives, DinoStor TapeServer allows customers to use their existing libraries, instead of purchasing a completely new "network enabled" library or making extensive and expensive modifications to proprietary library designs in order to implement library sharing. Instead, the DinoStor TapeServer is fully compatible with all standard SCSI tape products, such as libraries from ADIC, Compaq, HP, IBM, Overland, Qualstar, Quantum, Sony or StorageTek. It works seamlessly with the leading NDMP hardware and backup software, such as products from Atempo, BakBone, Computer Associates, CommVault, EMC, HDS, HP, Legato, Network Appliance, Reliaty, Syncsort, Tivoli, or Veritas.

Investment Protection
DinoStor TapeServers allow organizations to preserve their existing IT infrastructure by enabling library sharing over Ethernet networks (including Gigabit Ethernet), producing Fibre Channel-like speed without the expense and difficulty of deploying back-end Fibre Channel SAN. DinoStor TapeServer extends the customer's investment protection into the future with a design that is iSCSI-compliant and ready to handle next-generation network storage technology.

DinoStor's breakthrough TapeServer technology is an affordable library sharing solution that liberates existing network servers from handling network backup operations and eliminates the requirement to dedicate a tape library for every NAS server, extending the capabilities of one tape library and precluding the need for investment in additional hardware until needed. Installing a TapeServer on the network frees NAS servers from the overhead of serving as a backup host, which can significantly degrade server performance while a backup operation is in progress. The addition of one or more TapeServers relieves NAS servers of the backup load, allowing the full power of the server to perform its specified function. In addition, de-coupling the server from a direct SCSI-attached tape library improves server availability by isolating it from the library. The NAS server is now immune from backup fault conditions that can require a server re-boot, interfering with the high uptime demanded by today's 24/7 network computing environments.

NAS Appliance to NAS Appliance
Enabling NAS servers to run backup jobs by connecting to the DinoStor TapeServer over a Gigabit Ethernet network dramatically increases the flexibility of network backup operations by removing the distance limitations imposed with SCSI-attached backup. NAS filers or servers and even networked PCs distributed throughout a department or building need no longer be in close physical proximity to the tape library, eliminating islands of unprotected storage on the network, and maximizing the ROI of the DinoStor TapeServer by allowing multiple departments to share the expense of a large-scale automated tape library.

DinoStor designed its TapeServer with the same storage "appliance" model that is familiar to NAS customers. The simple plug-and-play installation process only requires the attachment of a network Ethernet connection to either the 10/100 or 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port, and connecting a tape library to one of the two available Ultra160 SCSI ports. All TapeServer settings are configured via a secure, browser-based GUI. Additional TapeServer units can easily be deployed to keep pace with a customer's ever-expanding network storage requirements.

Back Up One Terabyte of Data per Hour
While proprietary alternatives allow basic library sharing, they make no contribution to improving network backup performance. DinoStor TapeServer supercharges network backup performance, allowing tape libraries to operate at the maximum potential possible with Gigabit Ethernet. A single TapeServer can stream data at 110 MB per second, unleashing the performance potential of high-performance LTO, SDLT and AIT-based libraries. For maximum throughput, three DinoStor TapeServers, taking just 5.25 inches of rack space, will back up more than one terabyte per hour.

Pricing and Availability
The DinoStor TapeServer has an MSRP of $9995 and will be available through reseller and OEM channels.

About DinoStor
DinoStor is a division of Global Automation, Inc., a company that has dominated the enterprise application development landscape for more than 10 years. Global Automation has offices in the US and India. Through Global Automation's experience in providing Fortune 500 clients with customized software-based solutions, it has developed technology to address the increasing need for effective and manageable network backup. DinoStor was formed to produce and market this technology for a larger audience, and to broaden the Global Automation family of services, expertise and human resources. Resellers and OEMs interested in learning more about the DinoStor products should contact Caroline Mead at 650-316-5925.


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