ADIC Advanced Digital Information (MM)

Using solutions from Advanced Digital Information Corporation (NASDAQ:ADIC), the leader in Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions for the open systems market, DigitalGlobe is able to complete image processing jobs in less than three hours, a four-fold improvement from 10-12 hours. DigitalGlobe is a leader in the global commercial Earth imagery and geospatial information market, and their images are central to a wide range of industries, including energy, exploration, regional planning, environmental monitoring, emergency response planning, intelligence, and 3D simulation. Its customers and partners include Google, as well as an international list of companies, government agencies, and news media. The company's products are high resolution images, and an important part of its competitive advantage is its ability to turn raw data into usable images fast. The process starts with raw data collected by the company's QuickBird satellite and transmitted to three ground stations in Alaska and Norway. Those stations send nearly 150GB of data per day over a wide-area network to the company's Longmont Colorado headquarters. There the raw data is processed in stages by up to a dozen specialized applications to sharpen images, manage color and contrast, provide different spectral views, and assemble multiple images into a single mosaic, depending on customer needs. For the IT department, the production processing stage is the key to DigitalGlobe's business, and it is a key component in their ability to win contacts, meet revenue targets, and grow their business. The company works with very large files -- 120 to 400 MB for each raw input file, and it was a very slow process to move and copy all the raw data multiple times before they could finish an imagery product. The answer to get its products to market faster was ADIC's StorNext data management software. "StorNext has great scalability and stability," said John-David Childs, lead network manager, DigitalGlobe. "Most file systems won't go over 2TB, but ADIC's goes over 100TB. The file system interface lets multiple applications and operating systems share a common pool of digital assets, giving us the kind of high performance we need to handle large files and large data sets on a fast production schedule." Childs adds, "Our volumes are up drastically this year, and the overall pixels we're getting out the door are up 80%. The time we're saving with ADIC is being put to good use. We plan to launch another satellite and grow our U.S. government business next year, and when that happens, the storage volume will expand by three or four times. This increased volume should not be a problem because our preliminary tests show that StorNext can handle 20 times more throughput." DigitalGlobe is also leveraging StorNext to improve its system for delivering finished products to customers, saving time and money. According to David Arlington, senior systems engineer, "StorNext lets us set up our distribution management system so that our FTP servers and media writing tools can all work from a single, large data pool. The result is that products get out the door faster, and we spend less time managing the process." A formatted copy of this case study is posted at www.adic.com/digitalglobe. About DigitalGlobe Longmont, Colorado-based DigitalGlobe (www.digitalglobe.com) is the clear leader in the global commercial Earth imagery and geospatial information market. The company's technical superiority and innovation, unparalleled commitment to customer service, extensive business partner network and open systems philosophy make DigitalGlobe the preferred supplier of imagery products to government and commercial markets. DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite is the world's highest resolution commercial imaging system. The company's next-generation WorldView I is scheduled to launch no later than 2006, and WorldView II is anticipated to launch in 2008, pending finalization of customer contracts. The company's updated and growing ImageLibrary contains over one hundred. About ADIC Advanced Digital Information Corporation (NASDAQ:ADIC) is a leading provider of Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions to the open systems marketplace. ADIC is the world's largest supplier of automated tape systems using the drive technologies most often employed for backing up open system, client-server networks.(1) The Company's data management software, storage networking appliances, and disk-based backup and restore solutions provide IT managers innovative tools for storing, managing, and protecting their most valuable digital assets in a variety of disk and tape environments. ADIC storage products are available through a worldwide sales force and a global network of resellers, OEMs and partnerships, including Apple, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, IBM, and Sun. Further information about ADIC is available at www.adic.com. (1) Market Share:Gartner Dataquest, Tape Automation Systems Market Shares, 2004, F. Yale, August 2005. ADIC and Scalar are registered trademarks and Intelligent Storage is a trademark of Advanced Digital Information Corporation. All other trade or service marks mentioned in this document should be considered the property of their respective owners.