ProStor Systems Unveils First Removable Media Technology That Combines The Benefits Of Tape And Disk With Enterprise-Class Data Protection For Backup, Disaster Recovery, And Archiving

ProStor Systems, a data storage company founded in May 2004, today introduced the industry's first disk cartridge technology to replace tape for backup, disaster recovery and archive applications. The revolutionary RDX technology combines the best attributes of disk and tape with an extra layer of data protection to achieve enterprise-class reliability in a product that scales from the small enterprise to the data center at a price lower than competing tape solutions.

Commenting on the announcement, Robert Amatruda, research manager at IDC, said, "Customers need high-capacity, removable storage devices for backup and archive to safeguard their critical data. ProStor System's RDX disk cartridge technology provides a fast, affordable, random access data protection solution for servers and workstations."

Designed for high reliability, the RDX data cartridge houses a high-capacity mobile 2.5-inch hard disk drive in a shock-proof mounting system. ProStor's RDX solution employs an advanced data format based on Adaptive Archival technology, a patent-pending formulation that overcomes the long-term data reliability limitations of native hard disk drives. This added layer of protection offers higher reliability than most of today's tape and disk-to-disk solutions in an exceptionally rugged removable cartridge.

The ProStor Systems Team
Leading the ProStor team is CEO and President Steve Georgis, an industry veteran who brings more than 28 years of data storage experience from Exabyte, StorageTek and Data General, and holds 15 technology patents. The executive lineup also includes a world-class team of disk and tape storage experts who, before joining ProStor Systems, built their careers at IBM, Quantum, StorageTek, Seagate, Exabyte, Iomega, Hewlett Packard and McDATA. Peter Behrendt, former chairman, CEO and president of Exabyte, serves as chairman of the board and is now a venture partner with venture fund New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

ProStor Systems has raised $8.7 million from three investors: New Enterprise Associates, Boulder Ventures and Western Technology Investment. The funding is being used to further develop, manufacture and market the RDX product line.

"Our market research reveals that customers have always preferred the reliability and speed of disk for backup and disaster recovery, but have been forced to use tape because of its portability, low cost and archivability," said ProStor Systems CEO and President Steve Georgis. "We spent the last year designing a data storage product that delivers the best features of tape and disk, while adding a second layer of data protection designed to work dynamically with the disk drive's own error correction, to give users the confidence that they can safely archive their RDX cartridges for more than a decade," he said.

RDX Adaptive Archival Format
The RDX disk storage solution is an enterprise-class removable disk cartridge technology designed for backup and archival storage applications. The patent-pending RDX Adaptive Archival technology overlays the error correction of a hard disk and is designed to counteract all sources of data degradation, regardless of the cause, to provide a factor of 1,000 improvement in data reliability. Capable of correcting defects even the hard disk cannot correct, RDX Adaptive Archival technology increases the uncorrectable bit error rate of disk media from its native 1 in 1014 bits read to an enterprise-class 1 in 1017. This gives users a 99.999 percent confidence level that their data will be protected for more than a decade.

RDX Technology Benefits
RDX technology delivers to customers the very best benefits of tape and disk without the risks inherent in either technology. Like tape, the RDX cartridge is removable and portable for off-site storage, disaster recovery and archival applications. Also like tape, it can be safely archived for more than a decade and is an inexpensive backup and recovery solution. The RDX cartridge looks and acts like tape and works seamlessly with most existing backup applications.

RDX technology offers enterprise-class reliability that exceeds that of native disk drives. And because of its native 30 MB/sec data rate, RDX technology reduces the traditional backup window from hours to minutes. For instance, it takes the RDX system less than an hour to back up 80 GB of native data and milliseconds to retrieve files. All this can be done with RDX cartridges that will range from 60 GB to 400 GB, following the hard disk drive capacity roadmaps.

RDX is both forward and backward compatible without limitation, which means future RDX cartridges with ever-increasing capacities and faster data rates will work in legacy systems, preserving customer investments for years to come.

ProStor's RDX technology also preserves customer investments because RDX cartridges don't wear out, reducing media replacement costs. In a tape drive, tape media is dragged across metal tape guides and abrasive heads to maintain critical alignment. Over time, the tape and heads wear out, negatively impacting performance and reliability. The RDX cartridge, heads and media operate in a sealed environment with no contact or moving parts required for operation, maintaining the integrity of the cartridges.

Other features of the RDX media include an option for write once, read many (WORM) configurations as well as data compression and encryption. The palm-sized cartridge itself has been designed to scale for automation with gripper features and bar code support. In addition, the media contains a unique light pipe status indicator that lets the user know whether the drive or the media failed, something that addresses a tape support limitation.

Availability
The RDX system is available now for partner and customer evaluations. RDX technology is in beta test and will be generally available in 2006.

About ProStor Systems
Founded in May 2004, ProStor Systems develops, manufactures and markets the industry's first disk-to-removable disk technology for backup, disaster recovery and archive that brings enterprise class data protection to servers, networks and professional workstations at an affordable price. RDX technology is a removable disk storage solution that combines the portability and archivability of tape with the high reliability and superior performance of disk. ProStor Systems is venture funded by New Enterprise Associates, Boulder Ventures and Western Technology Investment. The company is headquartered at 5555 Central Avenue, Suite 100, Boulder, CO 80301. For more information, visit www.prostorsystems.com or contact the company at info@prostorsystems.com or (303) 565-3100.