Laguna Hills, CA - May 11, 1999 - Ultera Systems, the leading tape array controller company, today introduced its most advanced product LibraryMasterÔ, which is specifically designed to integrate with tape libraries.

Driving five tape drives in parallel, the new Ultera RAID controller reads and writes data at four times the speed of conventional subsystems, while providing guaranteed data recoverability in the event of a damaged or lost tape media.

 "This is a reality now," said Fred Bedard, Ultera Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Backup applications can take advantage of faster processors, I/O and tape drives, and leverage the performance of their existing backup software to a new level."

Guaranteed Data Recoverability
By allowing the output from the host system to write to four drives in parallel and using the fifth drive to generate parity code, data retrieval is guaranteed. Should a tape cartridge be lost or damaged, LibraryMaster will automatically rebuild lost data by drawing from the remaining tapes.

Enhances Sony and Qualstar Systems
Interfaced with Sony’s Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) drives, and Qualstar’s TLS-4000 Tape Library, Ultera’s new technology enhances AIT automation capabilities. "The solution provided through the LibraryMaster with Sony AIT drives and Qualstar’s scalable library systems is absolutely on target with the demands we have been seeing for mid-to-high-end enterprise backup applications in providing new levels of performance and data integrity," said John Woelbern, Senior Marketing Product Manager for Sony’s Tape Streamer Products Division. "By utilizing Sony’s new AIT-2 tape technology, for example, this solution can now provide an astounding native data transfer rate of over 40 megabytes per second, assuming 2.0:1 data compression.."
                                        
Qualstar Vice President of Sales Bob Covey said that LibraryMaster is a technology complimentary to the Qualstar’s library line. "Our libraries are recognized for their reliability and advanced design characteristics. Ultera’s LibraryMaster enhances the performance of our system as well as providing expanded security through its unique data recoverability."

Compatibility With Existing Systems
LibraryMaster requires no additional software and is totally compatible with all leading backup software and storage management packages and operating systems, including Windows NT, UNIX, and Mac OS. It supports ultra, fast, and wide SCSI, with either single-ended or differential interface. LibraryMaster is currently shipped as a 19" rack-mount configuration with LCD control panel. Manufacturers’ suggested retail price is $14,550.

About Ultera Systems
Ultera Systems, Inc. designs, manufacturers and markets RAID tape array controllers and CD-R, DVD multimastering controllers and systems under the trade names "Striper," "Imager," "LibraryMaster," and "MultiMaster." Ultera company headquarters are in Laguna Hills, California.  

For further information, call (949) 367-8800, email inform@ultera.com or visit Ultera's web site at http://www.ultera.com.

About Sony
Based in San Jose, Calif., the Tape Streamer Products Division of Sony Electronics’ Component Company markets tape drives and autoloaders through OEM, industrial distribution and reseller channels. For additional information about Sony computer products, call (800) 352-7669 or visit Sony’s World Wide Web site at http://www.sony.com/storagebysony.   For more information on Sony recording media,
call 1-800-766-9328.

About Qualstar
Qualstar Corporation is the leading manufacturer of automated libraries for AIT and AIT-2 technology tape drives. Its TLS-4000 family spans capacities from 300 GB to 46 TB in 10 models. Its complete tape automation product lines are marketed through OEMs, VARs, and Systems Integrators worldwide. Qualstar is based in Canoga Park, Calif.  For further information, call (800) 468-0680, (818) 592-0061 or visit Qualstar's Web site at http://www.qualstar.com.

Ultera, Striper, Imager, MultiMaster, and LibraryMaster are trademarks of Ultera Systems Inc. Mac is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Corp. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. UNIX is a trademark of the Open Group. Any other tradenames used are the property of their holders.