SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 27, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- A one-two punch is at work in the storage arena, and this combined force is changing the landscape of storage. The value proposition of hard disk drives continues to grow stronger as the cost per gigabyte decreases and the technology marches forward, creating compelling economies. Add to this a bevy of new applications that have taken shape outside of the traditional confines of the data center and the industry is in the midst of a rebirth.
From video security to compliance to web hosting, the cost of SATA storage has aligned to fuel a new range of applications. One of the beneficiaries of this movement is the Galaxy(r) Storage line developed by Rorke Data, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts (Nasdaq:BELM), which has over the last eight years been deployed in this new realm of storage. Achieving success in broadcast, medical, surveillance, and other storage-centric markets, the time is right to expand the market for Galaxy, according to Joe Swanson, vice president and general manager of Rorke Data. Swanson explained, "More and more, we are seeing businesses strategically planning to use our Galaxy product line to achieve greater competitiveness in their offerings for new web hosted solutions, digital content and a range of other storage-enabled applications."
Management and retention of the growing volume of data and images that need to be stored have reached critical mass. Many different issues are driving this rapid increase in data storage requirements, creating a new storage landscape for the mid-market. Companies in the mid-market seek efficient and reliable solutions for managing content and are now faced with the decentralization of storage applications. What was once solely the domain of the mission-critical data center is now spread throughout the organization.
Swanson points to this market shift and sees a new paradigm for how storage is deployed and the resulting need for value-based storage solutions. Seagate Technology, the world's leading supplier of hard disk drives, agrees that there is strong growth in storage being driven by business critical applications.
"Seagate believes that tremendous growth is possible in this mid-market area as a result of new applications and people storing their data smarter with tiered storage solutions like Galaxy," said Henry Fabian, executive director of marketing for Seagate's Enterprise Compute Business. "We continue to deliver innovative technology and features in our business-critical product family which includes the Barracuda(r) ES.2 hard drive, a drive that is well-suited for the growing needs of businesses by delivering the highest capacity, PowerTrim(tm) technology for reduced power consumption, and field-proven reliability."
Today's unique issues are a driving factor -- security concerns place a priority on surveillance video applications; regulatory compliance mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA stipulate longer retention periods for records. Growth in storage is also heavily driven by newly created applications that have arisen because of the recent capacity breakthroughs from perpendicular recording in drives, RAID 6 in controller technology, and the overall lowered cost model of storage. IPTV and other new applications have massive storage needs and the next generation of applications is just around the corner. Additionally, the transition from analog (tape) to digital (disk) storage plays a role in storage market dynamics, as disk-based storage is now less expensive and holds more volume than tape-based storage.
All of these issues combine to set the stage for the dawn of a new age in storage: the creation of a new storage market -- the mid-market -- in which innovative storage providers are finding and creating their own niches.
The Galaxy line of RAID and NAS storage solutions addresses this mid-market ground with its flexible, value-based storage solution that incorporates advanced, proven technology into a practical yet high performance storage device. Seagate's Barracuda ES.2 drive is certified for the full line of Galaxy solutions.
Success in this new storage arena requires practical storage solutions, as these applications cannot exist in the typical enterprise model of highly complex and costly storage architectures. Practical storage solutions are affordable and deliver the capacity and features needed for the application at hand, while offering scalability to meet future growth. Performance and quality become key parts of the equation, as these are real time applications. An additional factor necessary to successfully solving the new storage equation is the availability of hands-on application experts to ensure optimum deployment.
About Seagate
Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives, providing products for a wide range of applications, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Branded Solutions. Seagate's business model leverages technology leadership and world-class manufacturing to deliver industry-leading innovation and quality to its global customers, as it strives to be the low-cost producer in all markets in which it participates. The company is committed to providing award-winning products, customer support and reliability to meet the world's growing demand for information storage. Seagate can be found around the globe and at www.seagate.com.
About Galaxy
Galaxy is a Bell Microproducts brand and provides customers with the most cost-effective, scalable and easy to use purpose-built RAID storage solutions and NAS solutions available.
Galaxy RAID and NAS solutions are manufactured by Rorke Data Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts in ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 13485-2003 certified facilities. All Galaxy solutions are delivered only after a rigorous test and approval process preformed by trained technical teams, and systems arrive to customers pre-formatted and ready to install. All systems are backed with a broad range of services including interoperability testing, complete system integration, and pre - and post sales support. Galaxy has been successfully installed by thousands of customers in a wide variety of fields, from video editing to healthcare imaging. Galaxy RAID is an FDA-registered device.
About Bell Microproducts Inc.
Bell Microproducts (Nasdaq:BELM) is an international, value-added distributor of a wide range of high-tech products, solutions and services, including storage systems, servers, software, computer components and peripherals, as well as maintenance and professional services. An industry-recognized specialist in storage products, this Fortune 1000 company is one of the world's largest storage-centric value-added distributors.
Bell Microproducts is uniquely qualified with deep technical and application expertise to service a broad range of information technology needs. From design to deployment, its products are available at any level of integration, from components to subsystem assemblies and fully-integrated, tested and certified system solutions. More information can be found in the company's SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts Web site at www.bellmicro.com.
Seagate, Seagate Technology, and Barracuda are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. One gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes when referring to hard drive capacity. One terabyte, or TB, equals 1,000 gigabytes when referring to hard drive capacity. Accessible capacity may vary depending on operating environment and formatting. Quantitative usage examples for various applications are for illustrative purposes. Actual quantities will vary based on various factors, including file size, file format, features and application software.