Overland & Tecmar Enter Development Agreement
Overland Data Inc., a data storage and backup products provider, and Tecmar Technologies, a provider of entry-level tape storage solutions for the network storage environment, have entered into a joint development agreement to design and manufacture Travan and Travan NS tape drives, which will incorporate Overland’s VR2 technology. These drives will conform to the specifications adopted by the Travan Manufacturers Association.
While specifics of the agreement were not disclosed, the companies noted that Overland and Tecmar will work closely together on the development of next-generation Travan tape drives for the small business/SOHO market and Travan NS tape drives for the entry-level server market. Future Travan products resulting from this alliance will be manufactured and marketed by both companies.
Scott McClendon, Overland President and CEO, states, "With this joint development agreement, VR2 will be strategically applied to the low-cost tape drive market, laying the groundwork for the use of Travan drives in low-cost server backup products. In addition, by becoming a manufacturer of Travan drives, Overland will be able to control the cost of the drives that ultimately will be incorporated in an Overland automated solution competitively priced for the small business/SOHO market.
Joe Daiutolo, Tecmar President and CEO, notes, "The next-generation drives jointly developed with Overland promise a 50% reduction in backup and restore times, while almost doubling the currently available storage capacity. Additionally, these new drives will maintain backward compatibility with previous Travan technology, allowing users to upgrade their drive performance without having to replace entire media banks."