MILPITAS, CA -- Quantum Corporation (NYSE:DSS), a leading provider of data protection and network storage, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets of Connex Inc., a provider of network attached storage (NAS) products and a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation (NYSE:WDC). Quantum intends to leverage Connex's complementary technology to enhance the range of features currently offered in Quantum's Snap Server(R) product line and build on the leadership position Quantum has established in workgroup NAS. The acquisition also reflects Quantum's strategy to broaden its storage solutions portfolio. Under the terms of the agreement, Quantum will purchase key complementary technology, intellectual property and other assets of Connex in an all-cash deal valued at $11 million and integrate them into Quantum's Snap Appliances business. In addition, Western Digital will supply hard disk drives to Snap Appliances on a non-exclusive basis. The agreement does not involve SANavigator, a wholly owned subsidiary of Connex. The acquisition is expected to close by mid-August, subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions. Quantum expects the transaction will be nominally dilutive in the fiscal year 2002, ending March 31, 2002. "The Connex acquisition reinforces Quantum's strategic focus on providing a broader range of storage solutions for networked environments," said Michael Brown, chairman and CEO of Quantum. "It will enable us to accelerate our movement into higher-value, higher-growth segments of the NAS market by offering customers increased capacity, availability and performance at a lower total cost of ownership." Since entering the NAS market just two years ago, Quantum has become the leader in workgroup NAS (sub-$10,000 market category). To date, over 70,000 Snap Server units have been shipped worldwide. Quantum is the largest supplier of NAS units across all NAS markets and is among the top NAS revenue leaders, having increased revenue well over 100% on a year-over-year basis in the most recent fiscal year. With the Connex acquisition, Quantum will strengthen its ability to extend its NAS leadership beyond the workgroup. "Connex's engineering talent and research and development expertise in the area of storage management will play an important role in scaling Quantum's Snap Server OS technology for the future," said Ray Robidoux, president of Snap Appliances. Quantum plans to leverage the significant amount of technical development in the Connex OS and also adapt and tailor the code available in the open source community. As a result, the Connex acquisition will enable Quantum to accelerate its plans to bring enterprise-class features to its Snap Server product line. "This acquisition positions Quantum to enhance the company's NAS development efforts with an expanded focus on software capabilities and to deliver a broader range of product offerings," said Brad Nisbet, senior research analyst for IDC. "With the NAS market estimated to grow from 6% of the overall disk storage systems market to almost 28% in 2004, storage solutions providers such as Quantum must continue to add functionality through software in order to stay competitive in the NAS market." "Western Digital remains committed to expanding our storage expertise to markets beyond the traditional desktop PC business, and the sale of Connex reflects our strategy to do so in the enterprise market," said Matt Massengill, president and CEO of Western Digital. "The combination of Connex and Snap results in a stronger EIDE-based enterprise storage customer for Western Digital and allows us to more broadly serve the NAS market. This transaction is also consistent with our efforts to minimize operating expenses through accretive performance from our new-venture investments, outside financing or restructuring." For more information visit www.quantum.com