Bus-Tech, Inc. Joins the StorageTek TekAlliance Partner Program
Joint Products Offer Certified Interoperability and Greater Reliability with StorageTek's Flexline and Bus-Tech, Inc.'s MAS and zDASD Products
LOUISVILLE, Colo. and BURLINGTON, Mass., April 26, 2005 - Bus-Tech®, Inc., a leading supplier of data center connectivity products, and StorageTek® (NYSE:STK), the world's most trusted partner for storing and managing critical business information, today jointly announced the certified interoperability of StorageTek's Flexline™ storage systems on both Bus-Tech, Inc.'s Mainframe Appliance for Storage (MAS) 3480/3490 emulation and zDASD 3990 Controller products.
This interoperability qualifies Bus-Tech, Inc. as a new member of StorageTek's TekAlliance™ Partner Program. This partner program offers mutual customers a wide portfolio of jointly sold and supported storage solutions to better meet their specific Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) and storage needs.
"We look forward to working with StorageTek to offer our customers new releases of our MAS and zDASD products that will firmly position Bus-Tech, Inc. as a comprehensive enterprise storage solution," said Al Brandt, vice president of operations for Bus-Tech, Inc. "The MAS and zDASD solutions are well positioned in the mainframe storage market, and we are thrilled to be a part of the StorageTek TekAlliance program to continue providing forward-thinking mainframe installations."
Through the StorageTek TekAlliance Partner Program, customers will receive the benefits of the MAS and zDASD products in addition to the offerings of Flexline storage systems with ATA, specifically its cost competitive disk economics and large capacity in small footprint.
The MAS is a tape-on-disk controller for System/390 mainframes emulating up to 64 3490 tape drives while the zDASD 3990 controller emulates up to 512 3390 data volumes. Both products connect directly to System/390 through one or two FICON or ESCON attachments and support z/OS, OS/390 or VSE environments. By leveraging the reliability, density and performance of Flexline storage systems's ATA technology along with the capabilities of MAS and zDASD, customers now have increased options for their near term storage needs. Minimal change is required to support existing applications or operations.
"We welcome Bus-Tech, Inc. as a new member of our TekAlliance partner program, and the early testing results of both the zDASD and MAS products with our Flexline storage system have been very impressive," said Cameron Van Orman, director of corporate alliances at StorageTek. "The performance and scalability of the MAS/Flexline combination will greatly reduce the backup window and enhance the 'time to restore' of the typical mainframe environment, while the zDASD solution provides our joint customers with a cost efficient long-term storage alternative."
As part of the certification process for TekAlliance partner program endorsement, the MAS and zDASD were tested with a Flexline series storage system in a dual FICON and ESCON configurations and attached via fibre channel to the Flexline disk array. The products integrated seamlessly, exercising a battery of functional and stress oriented tests to provide "backup to disk" without any change to their existing applications or processes. The MAS is available in combination with the Flexline family's ATA drive technology to provide a cost effective solution for using disk for mainframe backup and enhanced batch processing.
About Bus-Tech, Inc.
Bus-Tech, Inc. founded in 1987 is the industry's leading provider of state-of-the-art connectivity solution for the data center to Original Equipment Manufacturers. The company's powerful suite of adapter and platform solutions satisfy even the most rugged demands of data processing professionals for high-bandwidth, high-availability, and high-performance connectivity. With more than 15,000 installed sites worldwide, Bus-Tech, Inc. is a recognized leader in the data center interconnect market. Headquartered in Burlington, MA, the company is privately held with locations around the world. For more information about Bus-Tech, Inc. and its products, please visit the Bus-Tech, Inc. World Wide Web site at http://www.bustech.com, send email to info@bustech.com, or call 800-284-3172 or 781-272-8200.
About StorageTek
StorageTek (Storage Technology Corp., NYSE: STK) is a $2 billion global company that uses its information lifecycle management strategy to help businesses align the cost of storage with the value of their information. The company's innovative storage solutions manage the complexity and growth of information, lower costs, improve efficiency and protect investments. For more information, visit www.storagetek.com, or call 1.800.877.9220.
"Certified interoperability" and "certification" are not a guarantee, but are an indication that very specific configurations of each company's product(s) have been tested together, on a specific platform (OS), if applicable, and have been found to be a working, supportable configuration by both companies.
TRADEMARKS: StorageTek is a registered trademark of Storage Technology Corp. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
