XenData Announces a Unique Digital Video Storage Solution:

Windows File System Interface for Data Tape Drives

XenData Archive Series software adds support for stand-alone LTO, SAIT, AIT and SDLT tape drives, presenting them as a standard Windows logical drive letter with fast access to individual files

Cambridge, United Kingdom - January 30, 2006:    XenData today announces stand-alone data tape drive support for the Video Edition of its Archive Series software. The software manages one or more data tape drives on a Windows file server to create a high performance storage solution designed for professional video and audio applications. The software runs on a Windows Server 2003 platform and the tape drives appear as a Windows logical drive letter with a standard file system interface. This means that individual files can be written to and read from data tape as though from a magnetic disk.

The system delivers fast transfer rates and fast seek times by using a magnetic disk cache on the Windows server.. With native transfer rates in the range 240 to 640 Mbits per second for LTO, SAIT and SDLT tape drives, the XenData solution makes data transfers many times faster than real time, even for HD.

The software is well suited for managing a large offline digital video archive. The magnetic disk cache not only provides file caching but is also used to retain file and directory information for tape cartridges that are held 'on the shelf'. When a tape cartridge is ejected from a drive, the files that it contains continue to appear in the file system. If access is attempted to a file located on an offline tape cartridge, the system will provide notification that identifies the particular tape cartridge on which the file is held. By using a companion product, the XenData Alert Module, the notification may be delivered by e-mail or on-screen messaging.

All aspects of the solution conform to either Microsoft Windows or open standards. The system will store and retrieve all file formats, as if being stored on magnetic disk; the data format written to tape is the open standard TAR format; file security and access permissions fully adhere to the Microsoft security model based on Active Directory. The emphasis on standards ensures longevity of the solution and it contrasts with traditional digital video archiving which uses proprietary management software.

The software supports a wide range of tape formats including LTO-2, LTO-3, SAIT-1, AIT and SDLT 600 tape formats. SAIT-1 and LTO-3 offer the highest native capacities of 500 GB and 400 GB, respectively, which allow many hours of digital video to be stored on each tape cartridge. For example, each SAIT cartridge will hold over 44 hours of video recorded at 25 Mbits per second. The high capacity of data tapes means that they offer much lower media costs per hour of stored content. For large video archives, this leads to significant cost savings.

The XenData software also supports a system with both a tape library and stand-alone drives. "The combination of a small tape library and a stand-alone drive is particularly attractive", said Chris Stone, Sales and Marketing Vice President at Breece Hill. "The tape library automates the writing process and the stand-alone drives are then used for fast retrieval of files held on offline tape cartridges."

"Sony is very pleased to be working closely with XenData to support Sony's tape storage line-up which scales from stand-alone AIT and SAIT tape drives up to enterprise-class tape automation solutions.  This helps our mutual broadcast industry customer base leverage Sony tape products' unique features and benefits through the new XenData software," said Alan Sund, general manager for tape storage solutions in Sony Electronics Component and Business Solutions Division.  "We greatly appreciate our relationship with XenData, as they continue to be at the industry forefront for supporting our tape products' unique features, including both standard read/write as well as WORM functionality." 

General availability of the stand-alone drive support is scheduled for mid March 2006. The software starts at less than $4,000 for a single drive system.

The solution will be demonstrated at NAB 2006 in Las Vegas from 24-27 April at the XenData booth.

About XenData

XenData develops and markets software for archiving and retrieving high volumes of data. The company, which was founded in 2001, is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and also has offices in Walnut Creek, California and in Munich, Germany.

XenData launched the Video Edition of its Archive Series software in January 2005 for digital video archive applications using a data tape library. Over the last 12 months since its launch, it has been successfully deployed by many broadcast organizations in North America and Europe. Now with support of stand-alone tape drives, an attractive entry-level solution is available at low cost.

For more information about XenData software, visit www.xendata.com.