NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2000-- Emphasizing the enhanced capacity and performance of the recently announced 4.7GB rewritable DVD drives, the industry's leading DVD-RAM technology participants, including Hitachi, Toshiba and Panasonic, will train the spotlight on a continuous demonstration of streaming video in the DVD-RAM Pavilion, in Rooms 1C02-1C03 at the Jacob K. Javits Center during PC Expo, June 27-29.

The demonstration, which will be given as part of the introduction of the new industry standard rewritable DVD technology, will illustrate the Pavilion's application theme "DVD-RAM ... Defining Storage Convergence."

In addition to incorporating a 7TB ASACA TeraCart(TM) rewritable DVD library, the streaming video system includes MagnaVault jukebox management software from Tracer Technologies (a BakBone Software company) and Linux clustering technology from Mission Critical Linux. The hardware and software combine to provide a single, highly reliable solution for Internet/intranet and audio/video applications such as video-on-demand for training, education and communications as well as data warehousing, and data mining.

Available as bare discs or enclosed in protective cartridges, the new 4.7GB DVD-RAM single-sided media can store up to two hours of high-quality video for a storage cost of only $.005/MB. In addition, the drives, which will be shown publicly for the first time at PC Expo, provide transfer rates of up to 22Mbps, making them ideal for the demanding video delivery requirements of TV stations as well as corporate and educational broadcasting applications.

Costing less than tape systems, the DVD-RAM-based streaming video systems provide random-access so there's no waiting while the tape rewinds. In addition, because DVD-RAM provides a data life in excess of 30 years and the read/write head never touches the media, so video quality won't deteriorate over time as it does with tape.

Designed for flexibility and scalability, the DVD-RAM based streaming video can be used in training employees, broadcasting executive speeches, explaining corporate and human resource policy, enhancing customer relations management (CRM) and introducing new products and services.

Broad Applications

In addition to being an excellent storage solution for rich multimedia content development and playback of videos and music, the 4.7GB DVD-RAM drives and media are also ideal for system backup/recovery and secondary storage. To highlight the broad range of applications and hardware/software products that support DVD-RAM technology, more than 40 firms will be showing their compatible products in the DVD-RAM Pavilion, Rooms 1C02-1C03.

Adaptec                             JVC
AdLib Publishing Systems            LaCie
ADS Technologies                    Ligos Technology
AOpen                               Lineo
ASACA                               LG Electronics
B&M (MpegCarver)                    Maxell
BakBone Software (Tracer)           Media 100
CenDyne                             Mission Critical Linux
Centura Software                    Panasonic
CTI (Computech Int'l)               Pinnacle Micro
CyberLink                           Pinnacle Systems
Cygnet                              ProSoft Engineering
Daikin U.S. Comtec Labs.            Ricoh Silicon Valley
Dantz Development Corp.             Software Architects
Dazzle Multimedia                   Samsung
DV Studio Technologies              Sigma Designs
EST                                 Spruce Technologies
DVDA                                Sonic Solutions
GEAR Software                       TEAC
HEURIS                              Toshiba
Indigita                            US Design
InterVideo                          VERITAS Software
Hitachi                             VITEC Multimedia
IBM                                 VOB
In-System Design

Hitachi, Toshiba and Panasonic have each announced plans to ship
4.7GB drives in the third quarter of this year. More announcements by
other manufacturers regarding their initiatives are expected. The
following media manufacturers have announced that they will release
next-generation media in conjunction with drive availability:

CMC Magnetic         Mitsubishi Chemical
Eastman Kodak        Panasonic
Fuji-Film            Ritek
Imation              TDK
JVC                  Teijin
Maxell               Toray
Infodisc             Prodisc

Additional Information

For more information on the TeraCart DVL systems, visit the ASACA website at http://www.asaca.com.

Information on Tracer Technologies, Inc., recently acquired by Net Resources Inc. (BakBone Software), (Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol -NRH) is available at http://www.tracertech.com

Visit the Mission Critical Linux web site at http://www.missioncriticallinux.com for more information on high-availability Linux solutions.

Additional information on theme "DVD-RAM...Defining Storage Convergence," including the agenda, Frequently Asked Questions about DVD-RAM, and presentation materials are available at http://www.virtualpressoffice.com.

Hitachi America, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., Japan, markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics, computer systems, consumer electronics and semiconductor products, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout the U.S. Additional information is available at Hitachi America's web site at http://www.hitachi.com.

Toshiba America Electronic Components (TAEC) Storage Device Division is the North American design, manufacturing, marketing and sales arm of Toshiba Corporation, a global technology innovator. Toshiba SDD markets high-quality peripherals to original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, value-added dealers, systems integrators and distributors in the United States. For additional information, please visit Toshiba SDD's Web site at http://www.sdd.toshiba.com.

Panasonic is the best known brand name of Osaka, Japan-based Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., one of the world's leading producers of electronic and electric products for consumer business and industrial use. For more information on the Panasonic DVD-RAM OEM drive and media, visit Panasonic Industrial Company's Web site at http://www.panasonic.com/oemdvd-ram. For more information on Panasonic-branded DVD-RAM drives, visit Panasonic Document Imaging Company's Web site at http://www.panasonic.com/storage.