Los Angeles, CA, 109th annual meeting of the Audio Engineering Society, Los Angles Convention Center, Booth #919, September 20th, 2000 – Rorke Data, Inc., a subsidiary of Bell Microproducts (Nasdaq:BELM), has been chosen by Broadway Sound, a division of Broadway Video, Inc., for the installation of a Storage Area Network (SAN) for their New York based audio post-production facility.
Rorke has been contracted to install 5 Digidesign Protools Mix Plus Stations for use in several digital audio applications. The company will be using the systems for editing and mixing for all types of television programming including cable television promos, commercials, long form programming, original music and sound effects. The flexibility and reliability of their SAN allows these projects to be interchanged throughout the facility. Spearheading the contract is Rorke's signature product, StudioNet-FC, which will offer fibre-channel storage to fulfill all of Broadway Video's digital audio post needs.
"Rorke's Fibre Channel solution offered a sophisticated advantage over other storage networking systems", says David Radin, V.P Engineering at Broadway Video. "Although we had previously used other proprietary networking systems for audio, StudioNet-FC impressed us with its ease of installation, reliability, and cost effectiveness. As our storage needs grow it will scale with us while delivering high bandwidth to our workstations."
The system installed by Rorke, addressed Broadway Sound's problem of having hundreds of gigs of data sitting on each workstation's hard drive and then moving selected projects to other rooms for revisions at later times. The system solved the problem by having all audio data stored in one location that is easily accessed for modification, and provided a central store for effects and music used throughout the facility.
"Validation of Bell Microproducts' strategy in acquiring companies like Rorke and their European subsidiaries is demonstrated by such successful cutting edge deployments of SAN technology and related professional services," said Phil Roussey, Sr. Vice President of Marketing at Bell.
About Rorke Data. Rorke Data, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts, Inc., is a full digital storage solutions provider with expertise in Fibre Channel RAID, SAN, DVD, tape and optical libraries, Unix, NT and Mac environments, high bandwidth networks, digital asset and document management, and engineering and maintenance services. Founded in 1985, Rorke Data Europe, located in Emmen, The Netherlands, is composed of six divisions: Medical Archive Applications, Audio/Video, Prepress, Imaging, Document Management, Engineering and Installation Services. More information about Rorke Data can be found at www.rorke.com.
About Bell Microproducts
Bell Microproducts is an international value added provider of a wide range of high technology products, solutions, and services to the industrial and commercial marketplace. The company's offering includes semiconductors, computer platforms, peripherals, and storage products of various types including desktop, high-end computer and storage subsystems, fibre channel connectivity products, RAID, NAS and SAN storage systems and back-up products. Bell Microproducts is an industry-recognized specialist in storage products and is one of the world's largest storage-centric value-added distributors.
The company's products are available at any level of integration from components, to subsystem assemblies, to fully integrated, tested and certified system solutions. The company adds value with a broad range of services including testing, software loading, kitting, mass storage system integration, and computer system integration. Trained and certified technical personnel complete each of these processes at Bell Microproducts' ISO 9002 facilities. Bell Microproducts markets and distributes more than 100 brand name product lines, as well as its own BellStor storage and TrademarkÒ computer brands, to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract electronic manufacturing services (EMS) customers, value-added resellers (VARs) and system integrators in the Americas and Europe. More information can be found in SEC filings, or by visiting the Bell Microproducts Web site at www.bellmicro.com.
Safe Harbor Statement. This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company's current views of future events and financial performance, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or facts to differ materially from such statements for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: the ability to successfully integrate the operations of recent acquisitions, industry conditions, changes in product supply, pricing, and customer demand, competition, other vagaries in the computer and electronic components markets, changes in relationships with key suppliers, foreign currency fluctuations and the other risks described from time to time in the Company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K). Investors should take such risks into account when making investment decisions. Shareholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements.
StudioNet-FC, and the StudioNet-FC logo are trademarks of Rorke Data, Inc.
