Low-cost DVD-RAM Discs Enable Random Access for Fast Recovery joined with NovaStor Corporation today in announcing the compatibility of Panasonic's 4.7GB DVD-RAM drive and NovaStor's NovaBACKUP data protection software for Windows® Me/95/98/NT/2000 environments. The high-capacity rewritable DVD drive and robust software offer powerful features that work together to make backup, data management and disaster recovery easier and more economical.

With NovaBACKUP's advanced data compression capabilities, desktop and network users can double the capacity of a 4.7GB DVD-RAM disc to achieve 9.4GB of backup storage on a single side for less than a penny per Megabyte. When used with NovaBACKUP's unattended scheduler, the DVD-RAM drive's high-capacity discs also eliminate the need to have someone on-hand to load new discs as the old ones are filled.

Offering seven times the capacity of a CD, the 4.7GB DVD-RAM single-sided media can store 4,700 full-color pictures (640x480, 24 bit/pixel), 2 hours of MPEG-2 theater-quality video, more than 7 hours of CD-quality audio or the equivalent of 8 four-drawer filing cabinets..

Unlike tape drives that must wind the tape in one direction and then the other to search for a file, the random access capabilities inherent with DVD-RAM technology enable data restoration to begin in seconds. With a data life of more than 30 years and the ability to provide more than a 100,000 overwrites, the life cycle cost of DVD-RAM media is also lower than tape.

``The Panasonic DVD-RAM drive was designed to meet today's burgeoning storage requirements; and cost-effective, high-capacity storage is one of the most important elements of a backup solution,'' said Peter Means, president and CEO of NovaStor. ``With NovaBACKUP and the rewritable DVD drive, users have the capacity and the tools they need to carry out regularly scheduled backups that won't interfere with their work.''

More than a backup solution, NovaBACKUP comes complete with powerful scheduling, compression, and virus scanning tools as well as encryption capabilities for secure, private backups. To assist Windows users in restoring their operating system following a disaster, the package includes InstantRecovery, a separate program that enables users to quickly backup and restore complete volumes to an alternate hard disk.

``NovaStor puts all of its products through rigorous testing to ensure that they fully support user requirements,'' noted Dana Berzin, DVD product manager of Panasonic Industrial Company's Global Computer Group. ``With the additional testing that was carried out to ensure the compatibility of our 4.7GB DVD-RAM drive and NovaBACKUP software, businesses and individuals can be confident that they'll have a backup solution that is reliable, cost-effective and easy to use.''

Fully compliant with the DVD Forum's DVD-RAM standards, the Panasonic 4.7GB rewritable DVD drive provides a 95msec seek time and 22.16Mbsec transfer rate. In addition to being an ideal solution for backup and secondary storage, the drive can also be used to read from discs currently accepted by CD-ROM, CD Audio, CD-R, CD-RW and video CD drives at speeds of up to 24x; and for 4-6x playback of DVD-ROM, DVD video, and DVD-R discs.

Panasonic Industrial Company's 4.7GB OEM DVD-RAM drive is available as an internal drive with a SCSI-2 interface (model LF-D291N) or with an ATAPI interface (model LF-D211V). The Panasonic-branded internal drive, model LF-D201U, is available from Panasonic Document Imaging Company (PDIC) and has an MSRP of $549. Double-sided 9.4GB DVD-RAM media, 4.7GB single-sided media and 4.7GB bare disc media, which are marketed under the Panasonic brand name, are also available from several other leading manufacturers. The 4.7GB bare disc DVD-RAM media can be played back on the latest Panasonic DVD-ROM drives, as well as Panasonic's new DVD Player and DVD Recorder.

The complete Workstation Edition of NovaBackup 6.6 software package including NovaBACK, NovaDisk and InstantRecovery is available from major distributors, resellers, retail channels and direct from NovaStor or the NovaStor website www.novastor.com at an MSRP of $59.95. The software package comes with an electronic version of its manual and support for English, German, French, Swedish, Italian and Spanish languages. A ``Quick-Start'' manual is also included.