ADIC Agrees to Acquire Rocksoft; Patented Data De-Duplication Technology Improves Disk Storage Economics; Speeds Data Transport
March 14 2006 - 4:05PM
Business Wire
Advanced Digital Information Corporation (Nasdaq:ADIC), the leader
in Intelligent Storage(TM) solutions for the open systems market,
today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Rocksoft Limited,
of Adelaide, Australia. Rocksoft's patented data de-duplication
software finds and eliminates redundant data, changing the
fundamental economics of disk-based data protection and data
transmission by dramatically improving the utilization of disk
resources and data transport networks. The strategic acquisition is
expected to allow ADIC to help customers manage, move, retain, and
protect their data more effectively on different kinds of storage
resources. Data de-duplication is an emerging technology that
promises to play a major role in a broad range of applications for
protecting and retaining data, including backup and recovery, long
term archiving, continuous data protection, and secure retention
for compliance. It also offers significant advantages for
applications that benefit from efficient data transmission,
including remote replication and wide-area network optimization.
Rocksoft delivers its patented technology using its Blocklets(TM)
software de-duplication engine designed to be easily integrated
into storage and data transmission products. ADIC plans to
integrate the de-duplication software into its branded products and
to offer it to licensees. "ADIC is the leading independent supplier
of backup, recovery and archive solutions -- a field dominated
today by tape technology -- because we design high levels of
intelligence into our solutions, deliver them through flexible
channels, and offer superior support," said Peter van Oppen, ADIC
Chair and CEO. "The addition of Rocksoft's expertise and their
de-duplication software will allow us to introduce new solutions
based on powerful increases in resource efficiency. It will help us
maintain leadership in our current markets as we make disk-based
storage and effective data transmission play even more important
roles in backup and archiving, at the same time giving us the
opportunity to expand into new markets. For applications that lie
outside ADIC's traditional storage markets, we plan to leverage
partners and licensees to help the technology reach its full
potential." Rocksoft's data de-duplication technology represents
the most important technical advance over conventional compression
techniques in 20 years. Conventional compression can eliminate
modest amounts of redundant data from file-sized blocks, offering
typical gains of 2:1. Rocksoft's technology applies flexible,
large-scale de-duplication techniques both within files and across
large data sets, finding duplicated elements among many different
files and storing them only a single time. The results can be
compression gains of 20:1 or more. Besides reducing the storage
needed for a given data set, the technology also enables very
efficient transport of data over networks because it eliminates the
need to send repeated elements. For applications that require
higher levels of security and compliance, the software engine also
offers additional data services, including data integrity checking
and encryption. "Blocklets technology provides clear benefits for
many data protection and retention applications," explained
Rocksoft CEO Jim Johnson. "When combined with ADIC's disk backup
and archive solutions, it will make it easier and more cost
effective for customers to retain backup data on disk and to
consolidate their backup and archiving operations between sites. It
will enable the creation of highly optimized disk-based storage for
the archiving applications that ADIC's data management software
supports today, and the development of new solutions for long term
retention, compliance, and remote transmission, including ILM
applications." Rocksoft, Ltd (www.rocksoft.com) was founded in 2000
in Adelaide, Australia. It has North American offices in Dallas,
Texas and San Jose, California. Rocksoft's founder and president,
Dr. Ross Williams, has been a central figure in the development of
fundamental technology for compressing, de-duplicating, and
preserving the integrity of stored data. He holds a Ph.D. in
Computer Science from the University of Adelaide. Under the terms
of the agreement, ADIC will pay approximately $63 million in cash
upon the closing of the transaction. The acquisition is subject to
a number of closing conditions, including approval by Rocksoft's
shareholders and an Australian court, and is expected to close in
the third quarter of ADIC's fiscal year 2006. Pending close, ADIC
and Rocksoft expect to begin working together on prospective
products. ADIC has agreed to provide a $5 million loan to Rocksoft
which may be repaid or converted into Rocksoft shares, and it has
obtained the option to acquire a source code and patent license if
the transaction does not close under certain conditions. In
addition, ADIC has secured an option from significant shareholders
of Rocksoft to directly acquire up to 19.9% of outstanding shares
at the same price per share offered to all shareholders in the
scheme of arrangement. Exercise of this option by ADIC would not
require Rocksoft shareholder or court approval. A copy of the
Implementation Agreement between ADIC and Rocksoft and related
transaction documents are being filed by ADIC with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K. 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.(a) 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. (a) Market Share:Gartner
Dataquest, Tape Automation Systems Market Shares, 2004, F. Yale,
August 2005. ADIC, Pathlight, and Scalar are registered trademarks
and Intelligent Storage, iPlatform, iLayer, and iMover are
trademarks of Advanced Digital Information Corporation. All other
trade or service marks mentioned in this document should be
considered the property of their respective owners. This press
release contains forward-looking statements relating to the
Company's future products and services and operations that are
subject to risks and uncertainties. These are forward-looking
statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words
"expect", "intend", "anticipate", "plan" and variations of such
words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements,
but their absence does not mean that the statement is not
forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees
of future performance and are subject to certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and
that may be beyond the Company's ability to control. Factors that
could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not
limited to, the effect of the acquisition of Rocksoft, the ability
to successfully integrate Rocksoft and the Company's businesses and
products, the ability to bring new and repeat customers to the
combined businesses, general economic trends, purchase deferrals by
customers, acceptance of new products, success of new sales
channels, technical competition or obsolescence, supply
constraints, changes in market pricing, production problems and the
Company's ability to complete announced restructurings on schedule.
The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is illustrative, but
by no means exhaustive. For more information on factors that may
affect future performance, please review the most recent reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the Company.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this
release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly
any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events
or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events.
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