OnStream Inc, a privately-held spin-off company formed originally by Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, has entered the South African removable tape storage market through distribution agreements with two of the country`s largest and most specialised storage distributors.
Confirming the appointment of Intelligent Systems (IS) and Datastore Africa, OnStream vice-president, sales and marketing EMEA, Syd Virdi, said the introduction of OnStream`s product portfolio provides South African IT users with immediate access to a range of tape storage solutions that are revolutionising the market.
"Since its entry into the European market in March 1999, OnStream has made significant gains in the rapidly-expanding backup storage market based on the strength of its breakthrough Advanced Digital Recording (ADR) technology," said Virdi.
"Our partnership with both Datastore and IS will ensure that South Africa benefits from the enhanced value, performance and reliability features of OnStream technology that has reinvigorated the tape storage market for servers, workstations, power desktops and notebooks."
Virdi points out that an authoritative IDC report just published on the European tape storage market attributed strong growth in the entry-level and mid-range market during 1999 to OnStream`s entry.
"Our ADR technology has provided massive impetus in a sector of the market that was characterised by aging standards or by technology that has run into limitations, such as Travan, DLT and DAT," he said.
Virdi, who was associated with the South African storage industry for more than a decade as a regional executive for a leading disk drive manufacturer, said the OnStream product range is ideally suited to the local IT market.
"With the fast-growing use of the Internet, customers increasingly need to store audio, video and other large files which require high capacity backup. Our innovative ADR technology means we provide backup solutions that deliver high capacity and superior performance at truly affordable prices," he said.
ADR technology is a variable speed, digital tape storage solution protected by over 60 patents. Developed by Philips Electronics, ADR is based on revolutionary 8-channel array technology that allows the solid-state design to read and write eight tracks of data simultaneously.
The OnStream product range is available in both internal or external units with backup capacities of 30GB or 50 GB. Products support a broad range of operating system platforms, including Novell NetWare, SCO UnixWare, SCO OpenServer, Linux, Microsoft 95, 98 and NT, Mac OS and others. Interface options include IDE, SCSI and USB.
OnStream`s backup and data management software partners include, among others, VERITAS, Computer Associates International, Dantz, Enhanced Software Technologies, Microlite, NovaStor, UltraBac.com and Yosemite.
OnStream`s own Echo version 3.0 software is the first backup software to seamlessly integrate drive-letter access with tape technology, allowing backup files to be accessed and restored to the system directly from Windows Explorer.
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