NEW 5 1/4 inch SOLID-STATE SCSI-2 DRIVE WITH BATTERY BACKUP

ST. PAUL, MN -- Curtis, Inc. introduces a new solid-state mass storage
device with a data access time of 0.1 millisecond, integrated
battery-backup and SCSI-2 interface. The Clipper uses dynamic RAM modules
to provide up to 512 Mbytes of expandable high-speed storage. The drive
fully emulates a SCSI hard disk drive, requiring no special drivers or
software. Unique to the Clipper is the high integration of memory, error
detection and correction, internal battery and a two-level data backup
system all within a half-height 5 1/4" form factor drive. Expansion up to
256 Mbytes is possible in a half-height drive and up to 512 Mbytes in a
full-height 5 1/4" form factor drive.

By significantly reducing the data access time over conventional hard disk
drives, the Clipper can provide a dramatic enhancement of overall system
performance. Potential benefits include improved system response time,
increased productivity and support for additional users.

The Clipper is designed for a variety of disk-intensive applications such
as image processing, graphics manipulation, database, transaction
processing, LAN accelerator and engineering and scientific modeling. By
offering a very high level of performance in a disk emulating device, an
easy upgrade path is also possible for many systems. By the elimination of
magnetic media and moving parts, the Clipper also offers high immunity to
shock and vibration, making it well suited for ruggedized and mobile
applications.

Standard 72-pin, 16 Mbit-based DRAM modules are used, making memory
upgrades fast and easy. Up to eight 16MB, 32MB or 64MB modules may be
installed in the drive. A SCSI-2 interface (Small Computer System
Interface-2) is used which supports fast-SCSI transfer rates up to 10
Mbytes/second. The drive is available with either single-end or
differential interface. On-the-fly detection and correction of memory bit
errors is performed by a 64-bit modified hamming code circuit. In
addition, the Clipper performs background "Memory Scrubbing" to locate and
correct errors in it's memory before they can accumulate.

Protection against system shutoff or power failure is assured by the
Clipper's two-level data backup system, which uses an internal battery
together with a wall-plug battery charger/supply. When primary power to
the drive is switched off, the charger/supply maintains memory refresh.
When a power failure occurs, the Clipper's internal battery can maintain
data up to 12 hours for standard 32ms refresh DRAMs or for 3-4 days using
Self-Refresh DRAMs.

The Clipper is available in both an OEM version for installation in any 5
1/4" drive bay, or in a desktop enclosure with internal power supply. List
price for the OEM 5 1/4" version ranges from $2,615 for a 16 Mbyte drive
to $38,995 for a drive with 512 Mbytes. The desktop version is available
for $300 more. The Clipper is currently being sold on a direct basis and
will be sold through reseller and distribution channels.

Company Background

Curtis, Inc. has been developing solid state disk and drive emulator
products since 1984 and has established a worldwide reputation among
systems integrators for innovative, reliable solid state storage
solutions. Other Curtis, Inc. products include the ROMDISK line of solid
state memory products for use with IBM compatible ISA bus computers and
the CardSharkII series of PCMCIA Carddrives. ROMDISKs are used in
industrial applications and embedded systems as well as diskless terminals
for LANs and Point of Sale applications. ROMDISK products are particularly
well suited to environments requiring operation in high performance,
hostile or secure computing environments.

Original ROMDISK products include the PCF-l, PCE/2 and PCE-FERO. The PCF-l
is a high performance multi-megabyte disk that can emulate a single high
capacity disk or dual disks. It can provide autobooting from a floppy
diskette image in addition to providing high capacity data storage. With
Flash Memory and the Microsoft Flash File System (FFS), the PCF-l operates
under MS DOS as a WORM storage device. Using battery-backed SRAMs with the
SRAM loadable device driver, the PCF-l operates as a
read/write SRAM Disk Emulator. Hard drive emulation mode is also supported.
The PCF-l is expandable with up to 7 MB of SRAM read/write storage or 14
MB of Flash Memory storage.

The PCE/2 is capable of emulating 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" diskettes up to 1.3M,
programming EPROMs or Flash memories and dual operation by emulating a
secondary diskette with a battery backed SRAM daughterboard (SRDB) in
capacities ranging from 64K to 1.44M.

The PCE FERO is a compact, low cost disk emulator that uses EPROMs or Flash
Memories. Flash memories can be erased, programmed and read on the PCE
FERO or EPROMs that have been programmed on a PCE/2 can be operated in a
read only mode. It is particularly well suited for diskless LAN terminals
that require autobooting and special safeguards for LANs and complex
distributed networks.

The CardSharkII Carddrives allow PCMCIA PC Cards to be inserted and
operated in a desktop PC. All types of PC Cards are supported including
memory cards, I/O cards and PCMCIA harddrives. The CardSharkII comes with
an ISA bus adapter card and either an internal or external 3 1/2"
carddrive. It allows simultaneous operation of two type 1 or type 2 cards,
or one type 3 PCMCIA harddrive.

Curtis Inc
418 West County Rd D
St. Paul, MN 55112
612-631-9512,  fax 612-631-9508

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