News

Avid Shatters Real-Time Storage Barriers with Open Storage Initiative and Unprecedented System Capacity of 192 TB (9/5/2006)

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that it has shattered major real-time storage barriers by introducing an Open Storage Initiative that allows customers to run third-party applications on Avid storage systems, and by offering massive increases to its entire shared-storage line. Professionals can now use virtually any third-party Mac OS X or Windows XP content creation tool with the Avid(R) VideoRAID(TM) and Avid Unity(TM) product families. In addition, Avid has tripled the storage headroom of the Avid Unity ISIS(TM) system to an unprecedented 192 terabytes (TB), and doubled the capacity for the Avid Unity MediaNetwork and LANshare systems. All Avid Unity systems also support Avid Interplay(TM) - the world's first nonlinear workflow engine that breaks new ground in team-based collaboration for media production.

"For years, Avid Unity has been at the heart of collaborative workflow for media production. As these production environments have evolved, a more diverse set of creative professionals - like producers, directors, writers, graphic artists, 3D animators, and more - are becoming a part of the workflow," said Dana Ruzicka, vice president of Post Solutions at Avid. "By extending the openness of our storage systems, media professionals can collaborate with greater efficiency - regardless of the tools they use - and also take advantage of new innovations like Avid Interplay, the world's first nonlinear workflow engine that tightly links everyone in a facility to the media production process. With major increases to the capacity and bandwidth of our shared-storage systems, we now offer the most comprehensive, scalable, and open family of high-performance storage solutions on the market."

New Benchmarks for the Avid Storage Family

With its new Open Storage Initiative, Avid is enabling virtually any Mac OSX or Windows XP content creation system, including nonlinear editing, compositing, 3D animation, and script writing tools - from Avid or other vendors - to connect to Avid VideoRAID local storage or Avid Unity shared-storage systems. With the ability to run these third-party products on Avid storage systems, professionals can use the tools they prefer with the most open storage solutions for media production and collaboration on the market.

In addition, all Avid Unity systems now offer greater storage capacity through the use of 500 GB drives, boosting overall system performance to provide higher bandwidth with fewer drives. These systems also offer smooth integration with the revolutionary new Avid Interplay nonlinear workflow engine to support the most comprehensive team-based approach to collaborative media production anywhere. Specific enhancements to the Avid Unity family include:

Version 4.2 of the Avid Unity LANshare system - delivers a turnkey, entry-level Fibre Channel and Ethernet shared-storage solution that offers small to mid-size facilities the perfect mix of simple, low-cost connections for both creative editorial and high-resolution finishing. Version 4.2 of the LANshare system doubles storage capacity to 8 TB with the new LANserver LP (Low Profile), an integrated storage and server device featuring 16-drives in a three-rack unit (3U) size.

Version 4.2 of the Avid Unity MediaNetwork system - offers 4-Gigabit Fibre Channel connectivity to mid- to large-size facilities that require the high-bandwidth and performance for multi-stream, high-resolution projects in a real-time collaborative environment. Version 4.2 of Avid Unity MediaNetwork doubles the system's storage capacity to 40 TB, thanks to the new MEDIArray(TM) LP array, featuring 8 TB of storage in a three-rack unit (3U) size.

Version 1.1 of the Avid Unity ISIS system - features Avid's revolutionary distributed intelligence architecture for large, enterprise-class customers who require virtually unlimited storage headroom, extraordinary data resiliency, and vast client connectivity. Version 1.1 triples the system's storage capacity to an unprecedented 192 TB of storage, expands client connectivity by 50% - or up to 150 active users - and adds support for creative professionals running Mac OS X (Tiger) workstations.

Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Storage with Avid VideoRAID

Avid is also showcasing its new VideoRAID RTR320 and RTR320X drive arrays, which deliver fail-safe data protection and uninterrupted real-time performance - even during a drive rebuild - unlike competitive RAID products that operate at sub-optimal levels or may be completely unusable in the event of a drive failure. The Avid VideoRAID product line leverages the combined bandwidth of multiple drives - with capacity of either 250 GB or 500 GB per drive - in storage arrays that provide real-time access to uncompressed SD and HD media. Available in a range of configurations at affordable price points, Avid VideoRAID products are qualified to work with the full range of Avid editing products - from Avid Liquid(TM) to Avid DS Nitris(R).

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for Avid VideoRAID systems starts at $3,929 USMSRP. Pricing for the Avid Unity family of solutions includes:
Avid Unity LANshare systems - which start at $24,995 USMSRP;
Avid Unity MediaNetwork systems - which start at $57,215 USMSRP; and
Avid Unity ISIS systems - which start at $106,995 USMSRP.

Avid VideoRAID products are available immediately though Avid's worldwide reseller channel. Avid Unity ISIS version 1.1 is expected to ship in May 2006, with version 4.2 of the Avid Unity MediaNetwork and Avid Unity LANshare systems expected to follow in June 2006.

www.avid.com

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