Combination of Pancetera's Technology and Quantum DXi(R) Disk Backup and Deduplication Appliances Provides More Efficient and Cost-Effective Data Protection

Quantum, an Origina partner and a leading global specialist in backup, recovery and archive, has announced that it has acquired Pancetera Software Inc., a privately held company that has significantly reduced the complexity and cost of managing and protecting data in virtual server environments. The $12 million transaction consisted of $8.4 million in cash and $3.6 million in Quantum common stock (approximately 1.2 million shares), and is expected to be accretive to operating profit by the end of the current fiscal year. The acquisition extends Quantum's technology leadership by adding key assets for dramatically enhancing data management in virtual environments. Pancetera technology is already compatible with Quantum's DXi disk backup and deduplication products, and the company plans to further integrate the technology into its longer-term roadmaps for both DXi and its StorNext(R) high-performance file sharing and archive offerings.

"The Pancetera acquisition reflects Quantum's continued focus on expanding our storage systems portfolio to provide greater value to existing customers and also reach a broader customer base," said Jon Gacek, CEO of Quantum. "Together with our DXi deduplication and replication appliances, Pancetera's technology allows Quantum to offer higher performance, easier-to-use, and more cost-effective solutions for managing and protecting data in virtual environments. We also are excited about the addition of a very talented Pancetera team, which will help us accelerate our development of new and unique DXi and StorNext solutions for meeting customers' evolving needs in these environments."

Data Storage Challenges in Virtual Environments Server virtualization provides significant economic and flexibility benefits to customers, which is why it is a top IT spending priority. However, virtualization has created challenges in data storage, across both primary storage and backup (four out of five IT managers reported difficulties backing up virtualized environments in a survey Quantum conducted last year). Virtual machines (VMs) contain large amounts of redundant data, and most backup applications store this data many times over, consuming storage and server resources, extending backup windows and consuming network bandwidth. In addition, virtual server environments tend to be 24x7 operations, so allocating time and resources for backup and recovery is a key administrative challenge. Finally, IT departments struggle to find simple, cost-effective solutions for protecting remote sites and delivering disaster recovery across locations.