Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 09:19:12 -0700
To: lwn@lwn.net
From: Xenia Moore <xenia@moorepr.com>
Subject: Ecrix and Penguin announce Linux partnership

Ecrix and Penguin Computing Announce Linux Partnership

VXA-1 Tape Drive to Ship with Penguin Computing's Popular Linux Servers

Boulder, CO - June 8, 1999 - Ecrix Corporation today announced a key
partnership with Penguin Computing Inc., the Linux reliability leader and
the nation's largest and fastest-growing company focused exclusively on
turnkey Linux solutions.  According to the agreement, Penguin will offer
Ecrix's highly reliable VXA-1 tape drive on all of its Linux servers,
providing an exciting new data backup and restore option for its customers.

Based on Ecrix's groundbreaking VXA technology, the VXA-1 tape drive
delivers major advances over conventional tape technology, offering users
unprecedented data restore capabilities.  The VXA-1 tape drive is the
price/performance leader in its market, with 66GB of capacity, 6MB/second
data transfer speed, and an MSRP of $1,295.  The partnership with Penguin
Computing enables Ecrix to begin penetrating the fast-growing Linux market,
and provides Penguin's customers with leading-edge tape drive products.

"The most significant application of Linux today is as an Internet server,
e-commerce server, or Intranet server," said Michael Peterson, president of
Strategic Research Corporation, an industry analyst firm.  "The valuable
combination of Penguin's Linux servers and Ecrix's VXA-1 tape drive will be
an excellent price performance solution for this growing market."

"Linux users deserve to have the best possible data backup and restore
technology at their fingertips," said Sam Ockman, president of Penguin
Computing.  "The VXA-1 is a breakthrough tape drive designed to ensure data
restore.  Response from our customers has been very positive, reliability
is crucial to their day-to-day business."

"Linux is the fastest growing OS in the world, so we are very pleased to
join forces with market leader, Penguin Computing," said Kelly Beavers,
Ecrix's president. "The VXA-1 tape drive delivers unprecedented data
restore capabilities, which we believe will provide the greatest value to
Penguin Computing's customers in the market today."

The VXA Advantage
VXA represents a new category in the tape storage market, emphasizing the
ability to restore data.  VXA eliminates the constraints of conventional
streaming tape drives, which have traditionally struggled with data
restore, and it avoids many of the costs associated with the designs of
competing products.  VXA technology is based on three complementary
innovations: Discrete Packet Format=99 (DPF), Variable Speed Operation
(VSO), and OverScan Operation (OSO).

VXA-1 Tape Drive and Media
The VXA-1 features a storage capacity of 66 GB and transfers data at 6
MB/second*. Data integrity is achieved by a full Read-After-Write check and
a dual-level four-dimension Reed-Solomon error correction system.  An
integrated ALDC chip provides hardware data compression.  The drive can be
attached to a wide range of desktop computers, workstations, and network
file servers via its SCSI-2 interface. VXAtape cartridges are available in
two capacities; the V17 stores 66 GB and the V6 stores 24 GB*.

About Penguin Computing
Penguin Computing is a privately held company located in San Francisco,
California and is the largest and fastest growing company to sell complete
Linux solutions.  Penguin customers include leading Internet-based
companies, such as Excite, Paramount Pictures, Viacom and Amazon.com.
Penguin Computing is the established leader in selling Linux servers,
workstations and desktops direct.  Penguin's business model resembles that of
Dell Computer in that it builds every computer and system from scratch, to
meet the users exact needs.  For more information about Penguin Computing,
please visit the company's web site at www.penguin.com or call (415) 243-8100.

About Ecrix
Ecrix Corporation is an innovator in tape storage and the developer of VXA,
a breakthrough tape technology that features advanced backup and restore
capabilities in products that deliver market leading price/performance and
reliability.  Ecrix is privately held and is headquartered in Boulder,
Colorado. For more information about Ecrix, please visit the company's web
site at www.ecrix.com or telephone (303) 402-9262.  More detailed
information about VXA technology is available at www.vxatape.com.


VXA, Discrete Packet Format, Variable Speed Operation, and OverScan
Operation are trademarks of Ecrix Corporation. * Specifications assume a
2:1 hardware data compression.