1STDESIGN™ ANNOUNCES INTELLIRAID™ FC-XPR
--First Intelligent Video Storage with Raid 6 Protection plus Extreme performance--

Somerville, Mass. (April 14th, 2006) — 1stDesign™, a division of 1 Beyond, Inc., today announced the new groundbreaking IntelliRaid™ FC-XPR (Fibre Channel, eXtreme
Performance and Reliability) enterprise-level storage system, featuring 16 SATA2 drives with RAID 6 protection and dual 4 Gigabit Fibre Channel connections.  This latest addition to the IntelliRaid family of systems is designed to offer video professionals unprecedented levels of protection against disk failure without the associated reduced processing performance problems or high costs, making it ideal for high demand environments such as 24/7 production operations.

Thanks to a unique parallel processing Raid 6 accelerator, the IntelliRaid™ FC-XPR offers higher data throughput performance than most controllers running unprotected RAID 0 (well over 600MB/s sustained data rate) and twice as much protection as RAID 3 or 5 systems. In addition, enterprise level disks with 1.2 million hours MTBF at 100% duty cycle further enhance reliability.  With prices starting at just $14,995, IntelliRaid FC-XPR offers a level of performance unsurpassed in its price range.  Available immediately, the IntelliRaid FC-XPR will be demonstrated for the first time at NAB 2006 on booth number SL942.

Terry Cullen, 1Beyond’s Founder and CEO explains: "As most consider reliability the top criteria for Video Storage, Raid 6 is very desirable. The problem however is that Raid 6 calculations are so complex that the performance, in the few controllers that are Raid 6 capable, drops significantly. Controllers lose as much as 65% of their sustained data rate therefore making them undesirable if not useless for professional video applications. We’ve addressed this problem by adding a unique parallel processing Raid 6 Accelerator. With this new design, not only is there is little degradation in performance at Raid 6, but with our unique dual PCIe bus and high-end processor the performance is far above most controllers running unprotected Raid 0."

Like other members of the IntelliRaid family, setup, interrogation and error reporting of IntelliRaid FC-XPR are designed to be clear and easy to use.  A totally turnkey solution, it is easily installed thanks to an easy to use Graphical User Interface or a built-in LCD read out. In addition, trouble-shooting has been simplified as IntelliRaid FC-XPR sends users clear messages and instructions in plain language rather that the usual confusion of switches, thumbwheels and undecipherable beeps. 

To further simplify monitoring and trouble shooting, the IntelliRaid controller can automatically inform users and / or their IT department of important status changes by email. When notification is received, users can interrogate the status of IntelliRaid remotely from any computer on the network or even remotely from off site locations.

IntelliRaid can be used with various Operating Systems and SAN software. It is also available with award winning 1stDesign Harmony™ SAN and LAN turnkey including all hardware and software. Harmony can be used with a combination of Macs and PCs running various editing and compositing applications including Avid, Adobe, Sony, Canopus, Apple, Autodesk and others.

Pricing and availability
With prices starting at just $14,995, IntelliRaid FC-XPR is available immediately through select resellers and 1st Design’s exclusive distributor of storage solutions, Jeff Burgess & Associates (JB&A), a leading supply chain management provider to the Professional Video and other industries.

About 1st Design
1st Design is the recently created storage division of 1 Beyond, Inc., a leading manufacturer of professional PC-based video editing and compositing systems available at a fraction of the cost of traditional high-end systems. This value leadership is due to constant technical innovation, including 10 years of industry firsts.  With a decade’s experience developing unique storage solutions for the video industry at all levels, 1 Beyond created the 1stDesign division to focus exclusively on storage technology sold through a video reseller channel. For more information call 877-663-2396 or visit www.1stdesign.com.

For further information, please contact:
Véronique Froment, Highrez PR
Veronique@highrezpr.com
Tel: 1 603 537 9248

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