Storage Dimensions Introduces SuperFlex 3000 With DGR

HIGH-AVAILABILITY RAID STORAGE WITH EASE-OF-USE, EXPANDABILITY, AND
MANAGEABILITY FOR BUSINESS-CRITICAL NT AND NETWARE SERVERS

FIRST TO DELIVER THE ABILITY TO ADD CAPACITY TO AN ARRAY AND CHANGE THE
RAID LEVEL OF AN ARRAY WHILE THE RAID STORAGE SYSTEM IS ON-LINE

MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA (APRIL 2, 1996) -- Storage Dimensions today announced
SuperFlex 3000 with DGR, a new high-availability RAID storage system for
Windows NT and NetWare featuring dramatically improved ease-of-use,
expandability, and manageability. SuperFlex 3000 with DGR has two primary
characteristics that make it unique among RAID storage offerings. First, a
system administrator can quickly and easily add capacity to SuperFlex 3000
with DGR while the system is in use. Second, RAID levels can be changed at
any time without taking the system off-line. These capabilities,
identified by Storage Dimensions as Dynamic Growth and Reconfiguration
(DGR), are critical to the NT and NetWare markets as a result of the
expanding role of Intel-based servers in client/server environments.

"Up until now, when NT or NetWare system administrators needed to increase
capacity of an array, they would have to take the system off-line to
backup the data, reinitialize the array, and then restore the data," said
Jeffrey Schnabel, senior product marketing manager for Storage Dimensions.
"This could take as much as 10 hours in a traditional system with just 16
GB of data. With SuperFlex 3000 with DGR, the process takes less than five
minutes to set up, and then the array expansion occurs in the background
similar to a rebuild. During the entire process, the array is on-line and
accessible to users."

Technology advances have increased the power of Intel-based servers making
them ideal for LAN server consolidation. The role of these servers is also
expanding to include application, database, and Inter/Intranet Web server
environments. Because of this, Intel-based server storage has a new
requirement for scalable growth, high-availability, and flexible
manageability. SuperFlex 3000 with DGR addresses these requirements while
being extremely easy-to-use.

Four product characteristics stand out in all surveys conducted among users
of different market segments," said Farid Neema, President of Peripheral
Concepts, a leading storage industry analyst firm based in Santa Barbara,
CA. They are availability, scalability, flexibility, and manageability.
SuperFlex 3000 with DGR covers them all.

ADD CAPACITY OR CHANGE RAID LEVELS ON-LINE IN UNDER FIVE MINUTES

Prior to SuperFlex 3000 with DGR, a system administrator had to manage a
time-consuming, difficult process in order to increase the capacity of a
RAID storage system. With traditional RAID storage, the system
administrator would have to take the system off-line to backup data,
reinitialize the array, and then restore data. Because this process could
take up to ten or more hours, it was usually done during the evening or
weekend to reduce the financial exposure of downtime during normal
business activity. However, should a problem occur during this lengthy
process, it could easily lead to unplanned downtime at the beginning of
the next business day. According to CRN/The Gallop Organization, the
median cost of such unplanned network downtime in Fortune 1000 companies
is $4,000 per hour.

This problem is magnified when the need to increase storage is unexpected
or when a company's business activities occur around-the-clock. In those
cases, downtime will impact normal business activity. If adding capacity
takes 10 hours at a cost of $4,000 per hour, the financial impact of
taking the system off-line to add capacity would be $40,000 per
occurrence.

SuperFlex 3000 with DGR solves this industry problem by dramatically
reducing the time and effort involved in adding capacity to the RAID
storage system. Using SuperFlex 3000 with DGR, the system administrator
can add capacity to the RAID system while it is on-line, enabling this
process to occur during normal business hours and eliminating the risk of
unplanned downtime. An easy-to-use interface minimizes the training
required to initiate this process, which takes less than five minutes to
set up. SuperFlex 3000 with DGR balances the existing data across all
drives in the new array, providing a seamless extension of the existing
volume.

Similar issues occur with RAID storage systems when a RAID level needs to
be changed. The system administrator would need to take the system
off-line to backup data, reconfigure the RAID level, and then restore
data. SuperFlex 3000 with DGR enables a system administrator to quickly
and easily change RAID levels at any time, without impacting user access
to the storage system.

Using SuperFlex 3000 with DGR, the system administrator can assign each
application to a logical unit and each logical unit to its own RAID level.
RAID levels 0, 1, 3, and 5 are available to provide maximum flexibility in
tuning applications for optimum performance. For example, in a typical
database server, frequently accessed index logs might be assigned to RAID
1. A data set that is accessed less frequently might be assigned to RAID
5. Imaging or video data sets might be assigned to RAID 3.

RESILIENCY FEATURES PROVIDE MAXIMUM SYSTEM AVAILABILITY

In order to support the demands of business-critical applications,
SuperFlex 3000 with DGR incorporates enhanced resiliency features to
minimize the chance of downtime while adding capacity or changing RAID
levels.

In the unlikely event that a drive fails while adding capacity to a RAID
level 1, 3, or 5 array, a hot-spare drive can automatically be activated
without interruption to users and without loss of data. Multiple hot-spare
drives can be assigned enabling recovery from multiple drive failures
across different logical arrays, reducing the window of vulnerability
during drive failures.

The system's award-winning enclosure is designed with dual redundant power
supplies, triple redundant cooling fan modules, and dual lockable A/C
inputs. All redundant components and disk drives are modular and
hot-swappable under load. Easy serviceability is provided via convenient
front and rear panel access. Optional battery-backed cache can also be
added.

DGR RAIDCARD PROVIDES MAXIMUM THROUGHPUT AND TRANSACTION RATES

SuperFlex 3000 with DGR combines advanced controller technology with
industry leading I/O caching to provide superior performance for a wide
range of applications. The system incorporates a new 33 MHz i960 DGR
RAIDCard processor. DGR RAIDCard has the ability to scale up to 128 MB of
cache and has a high-speed PCI interface to the host. A unique performance
feature of DGR RAIDCard is adaptive read-ahead caching which adjusts
on-the-fly for either random or sequential data patterns.

MODULAR SCALABILITY ENABLES MINIMAL ENTRY COST FOR DGR CAPABILITIES

SuperFlex 3000 with DGR incorporates a seven-bay enclosure housing 3.5" 2.1
GB or 4.3 GB disk drive modules. The DGR RAIDCard controller has
two-channels, with each channel supporting a total of seven drives
resulting in up to 60 GB of total capacity per controller. Since a typical
server can support up to four controllers using multiple enclosures,
maximum total capacity for most servers is 240 GB. This modular approach
allows for a minimal entry cost with scalability as capacity demands
increase.

AVAILABILITY, PRICING, AND SUPPORT

SuperFlex 3000 with DGR will ship in April with support for both Windows NT
and NetWare. An entry-level system with three 2.1 GB Fast/Wide 7200 rpm
drives and DGR RAIDCard with 4 MB of cache is expected to be corporate
volume priced at $8,900. A fully-loaded system with seven 4.3 GB Fast/Wide
7200 rpm drives and DGR RAIDCard with 4 MB of cache is expected to be
volume priced at $18,600.

SuperFlex 3000 with DGR is supported by Storage Dimensions SpeedExchange
advanced exchange warranty. The warranty coverage is for five years on
disk drives and three years on other components. SuperFlex 3000 with DGR
also comes with free on-site IBM service for one year.

Founded in 1985, Storage Dimensions is the leading independent vendor of
high-availability disk and tape storage systems for client/server and open
systems environments. In addition to award-winning, leading-edge products,
the Company provides a number of innovative and sophisticated support
programs to help customers minimize the total cost-of-ownership over the
life-cycle of their storage investment. The Company is ISO 9002 certified
and primarily serves Fortune 1000 corporations and large institutions that
have business- and mission-critical applications requiring high capacity,
performance, reliability, and availability. Storage Dimensions products
are available through a worldwide network of authorized resellers and
distributors. The Company is located at 1656 McCarthy Boulevard, Milpitas,
CA 95035 and can be reached at 408-954-0710.
 
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