GAITHERSBURG, MD, February 23, 1999 - The February, 1999 (version 222) release of Tracer's MagnaVault software for Unix adds a new platform, Unixware version 7, to our offering, and rounds out the TapeFS product line by adding support for AIX, HP-UX, and Irix. We now support Solaris 7, Sun's latest operating system, and 64-bit HP-UX version 11. Major new features are now available in support of DVD and UDF, and we've added lots of new drives and changers as well.

Unixware 7, the long-awaited gemini product from SCO, is our latest port. Our MagnaVault offering for Unixware 7 includes everything but TapeFS. This means that our Unixware 7 product line does include DVD support, UDF, HyperROM, BFS and WFS (for rewritable and write-once optical), CD authoring, and web-based administration, with TapeFS support expected within the next quarter. As SCO Unixware enjoys widespread popularity in the OEM market, we are optimistic about the prospects for MagnaVault in this environment. We also note that SCO has a wide variety of PC interoperability products, and that they are at the forefront of IA-64 operating system development.

Now that DVD is widely available (in DVD-RAM, DVD-R, and DVD-ROM forms), UDF support is increasingly important. At the same time, the desire for long-term, standardized storage solutions has never been greater. We've addressed these issues with our latest OSTA UDF developments. In addition to providing the ability to mount UDF volumes read-only (which we did as of the last release), we now provide two new UDF features. First, we have created the ability to ``bridge'' BFS file systems (those created with version 222 BFS). This means that it is possible to create, mount, and use a BFS file system, then put a UDF directory structure on it later. This ``bridged'' file system can then be interchanged with UDF implementations on other platforms (we have tested several). Second, the 222 release contains a utility, BatchUDF, which is extremely general in nature, and which allows you to create UDF volumes out of files (like mkisofs) or to bridge media (as with BFS).

The TapeFS file system is now available on all platforms except Digital Unix and Unixware (with Unixware 7 support to follow soon). MagnaVault now includes support for all popular, high-capacity tape libraries, including those from Hewlett-Packard, Philips, ATL, Asaca, Qualstar, and others. MagnaVault version 222 includes support for these tape libraries on the following versions of Unix:

• IBM AIX 4.2.1 and above
• SGI IRIX 6.5 and above
• Hewlett Packard HP-UX 11 and above
• Sun SOLARIS 2.6 and above

The CD contains the latest Samba distribution, version 2.0.0, provided as a convenience to you. This version is reputed to fix numerous bugs in previous versions, and offers unprecedented performance (even beating NT as a file server on comparable hardware!). Our 222 release of HyperMAN has a Samba configuration section, and also provides access to the Samba team's own web interface, called swat.

Many customers have asked us about Samba support and documentation. We do support Samba for you, for free, when you're using it with our software (assuming you have a valid support agreement with us). For documentation, we recommend the book Samba - Integrating UNIX and Windows, by John D. Blair of the Samba team (ISBN 1-57831-006-7), published by Specialized Systems Consultants. This book is readily available in local and online bookstores, and provides a complete reference and tutorial for Samba sysadmins.

In response to customer demand, the 222 release contains a completely rewritten manual for the MagnaVault software family. The 222 CD contains a pdf version of the manual, and a printed version will be available shortly. Please contact Tracer for the latest word on the printed manual.