DPT announces new disk array products and SCSI host adapters; products developed for Apple's new PCI-Based Power Macintosh 9500

Business Wire, June 19, 1995

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 1995--Distributed Processing Technology (DPT), a leading supplier of high performance SCSI host adapter and disk array solutions, today announced their new SmartRAID disk array controllers and SmartCache III SCSI adapters developed specifically for Apple's new PCI-Based Power Macintosh 9500, also announced today.

"We are very pleased that DPT is supporting the next generation Power Macintosh with PCI," said Steve Manser, vice president of Apple's Macintosh Desktop Systems. "New product announcements from major PCI developers like DPT clearly reflect the strong support for the Power Macintosh platform. More importantly, customers will benefit when they are able to choose from a wide variety of industry standard PCI solutions to use in their Power Macs."

According to Johnny Cardosi, DPT's vice president of distribution sales and marketing: "Apple's launch of the new PCI-Based Power Macintosh 9500 is a terrific opportunity for DPT to expand into a new market not available to us in the past. DPT's high performance products with hardware caching and RAID make a great partner with Apple's own line of PCI bus products. DPT is excited to be a part of the Apple team and to be included in their new product campaign."

DPT's new PCI products for the Macintosh market include the SmartRAID disk array controllers (models PM3224-MAC and PM3224W-MAC), as well as the SmartCache III SCSI host adapters that are cache and RAID upgradable (models PM2024-MAC, PM2124-MAC and PM2124W-MAC). This new line of products offers the most powerful and complete SCSI solutions available for the new PCI-based Macintosh computers.

Both the SmartRAID controller and those SmartCache III host adapters that have been upgraded to support RAID offer hardware-based disk array support for RAID levels 0, 1 and 5. Because all of the RAID commands are handled within the hardware, the operating system is relieved of the extra processing burden imposed by performing calculations needed for RAID. The result is faster performance for all RAID levels.

Another important feature of the SmartRAID and SmartCache products is their use of DPT's caching technology. The SmartRAID controllers come with caching integrated on the card, while users may upgrade their SmartCache III adapter by adding a DPT Caching Module. With support for up to 64MB of hardware-based cache memory, DPT products can improve overall I/O performance by two to three times over that of non-cached SCSI adapters.

In addition to its PCI SCSI adapters and RAID controllers, DPT also offers its award-winning SmartRAID subsystems for use with Macintosh computers. These subsystems include both a 6-bay tower chassis with a total storage capacity of 24GB, as well as a 3-bay personal storage cabinet with a storage capacity of up to 12GB. Both cabinets feature hot-swappable drive support and a special interface that allows the SmartRAID controller to monitor temperature and voltage within the cabinets.

All of the SmartCache III and SmartRAID hardware is controlled by DPT's award-winning Storage Manager software. Storage Manager features include diagnostic utilities and advanced I/O monitoring, allowing all hardware to be checked without going off-line and providing vital performance information for determining peak I/O activities. Storage Manager simplifies RAID setup by utilizing a point-and-click functionality that allows the user to choose each peripheral that is to be included in the RAID configuration. Once the user has made their selection, Storage Manager automatically configures the user-defined RAID setup.

Additionally, DPT's SmartCache III and SmartRAID products for the PCI-based Macintosh computers can be used in both desktop and server environments. These new DPT products will be available through Macintosh distributors as well as DPT sales and distribution immediately.

DPT is a leading supplier of high performance peripheral controllers, disk array products and storage management software for microcomputers. Its technology includes the first caching disk controller and disk mirroring (RAID-1) controller for the PC. DPT products are sold worldwide through a network of major distributors and OEMs. The privately held company, founded in 1977, is based near Orlando, Fla., with European sales offices located in Milton Keynes, England, and Wolfratshausen (near Munich), Germany.

CONTACT: Distributed Processing Technology, Maitland

Christina M. Hardison, Public Relations Specialist

407/830-5522, ext. 420