Eden Prairie, MN, February 29, 2000 — Rorke Data, Inc. announced today that the company's StudioNet-FC, a high bandwidth Fibre Channel work group solution, has been certified for use with Matrox Video Product's DigiSuite real-time editing platforms, designed for use in Storage Area Network (SAN) environments.

The StudioNet-FC storage solution from Rorke Data allows multiple Matrox DigiSuite-equipped workstations to share a unified storage system in a SAN environment, permitting multiple DigiSuite systems to concurrently share the same media assets and projects over a high-speed Fibre Channel network.

With a SAN, digital video can be simultaneously recorded and played back by multiple DigiSuite-equipped stations, with no need for local storage. Instead of having to make a copy of a video file to get it from one side of a facility to another, a SAN allows multiple users on opposite sides of the facility to use the same video file, at the same time, without the need to make additional copies.

"We've been working hard at this certification process with Rorke so that video professionals can benefit from tested and validated networked DigiSuite solutions, said Patrick Beaulieu, product manager at Matrox. "We are very excited about the results. In one of our many tests, we connected five DigiSuite LE systems to a single Fibre Channel StudioNet-FC disk array and all five DigiSuite LE systems could simultaneously play back two streams of broadcast-quality M-JPEG compressed video at up to 7 Mbytes/second per stream."

When working with less bandwidth-intensive compression technologies such as the DV, DV50, or MPEG-2 formats supported by DigiSuite DTV, even more systems can potentially be networked together — all playing back dual-stream broadcast-quality video.

"Successfully developing a stable Fibre Channel storage solution for video applications takes years of experience and knowledge," said Bob Herzan, vice president of world wide sales, Audio/Video Division, Rorke Data.  "Rorke Data's 15 years in the audio/video industry and direct relationship with Matrox and other leading manufacturers' core development teams is a base line for our success. In addition to these close working relationships with strategic partners, our formula for success includes a global network of offices that allow us to provide full service and support for our products."

About Matrox

Matrox Video Products Group is a technology and market leader in the field of digital video hardware and software for realtime editing, DVD authoring, and web streaming applications.  The award-winning Matrox DigiSuite product line is used by television broadcasters, post-production facilities, and project studios worldwide. The new Matrox RT2000 platform is designed for corporate communicators, event videographers, and video enthusiasts.  Founded in 1976, Matrox is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Hong Kong. For more information visit www.matrox.com/video.

About Rorke

Rorke Data is a full digital storage solutions provider with expertise in SAN-connectivity, FC RAID, high performance 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 is a privately held Minnesota corporation.  Together with its European subsidiary, Rorke Data Europe, located in Emmen, The Netherlands, the company is composed of six divisions: Audio/Video, Prepress, Imaging, Document Management, Digital Media Supplies, and Engineering and Installation Services.  More information about Rorke Data can be found at www.rorke.com.

For more information, contact:   Rorke Data, Inc., 7626 Golden Triangle Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344  U.S.A.; 800/328-8147 or 612/943-7880; fax: 612/829-0988; web site:  www.rorke.com.

Matrox and DigiSuite are registered trademarks and DigiSuite LE and DigiSuite DTV are trademarks of Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
StudioNet-FC is a trademark of Rorke Data, Inc.