LOUISVILLE, CO -- StorageTek(R) (Storage Technology Corp.) (NYSE: STK), an expert in high-performance, efficient digitized data storage, is addressing the market need for affordable capacity-centric tape storage by slashing service pricing and extending the warranty for its high-reliability T9940 tape drive. StorageTek is lowering the T9940 total cost of ownership significantly by aggressively reducing the pricing of service to the same level as the new T9840B, the world's fastest tape drive. The warranty is being extended to one full year. The result is a service cost savings of up to 60 percent over a three-year period. First introduced in October 2000, the T9940 boasts compatibility with every major software backup vendor in the marketplace today. The high-capacity T9940 enterprise-class tape drive enables customers to meet disaster recovery, data warehousing, scientific mass storage, and general commercial backup archival requirements, and also satisfies the demands for massive electronic storage vaults of image and document data. "Since its introduction a year ago, the T9940 technology has helped customers gain the optimum flexibility they need to manage their storage within both their new and legacy library infrastructures," said Pete Koliopoulos, StorageTek director of Marketing, Automated Tape Solutions. "Now, we're making it even easier for customers to take advantage of this wonderful technology. Our reduced service pricing and extended warranty are designed to reduce their total cost of ownership. When customers buy our products, they get the investment protection they need to run their IT operations cost effectively." The T9940 was designed for high duty-cycle, economical capture and access to highly valued scientific or business data, including high-capacity applications such as disaster recovery, record-retention, and data archive and back-up. It also works seamlessly with StorageTek's Virtual Storage Manager(TM) (VSM(TM)) software to enhance enterprise users' tape automation infrastructure investments. The T9940 reduces the number of tape cartridges and slots required in a library, and facilitates implementation in storage area network (SAN) architectures. About the StorageTek T9940 Tape Drive The T9940 saves time and resources by reducing cartridge handling and maintenance costs. It can be intermixed with the TimberLine(R) 9490 and original 9840 tape drives in all supported libraries saving enterprises money through investment and legacy equipment protection. The T9940 offers: -- Heterogeneous attachment via ESCON, Ultra-SCSI and native Fibre Channel connectivity to provide SAN readiness. -- Data at 10 megabytes per second native (up to 37 megabytes per second maximum, compressed). -- Cartridges that store up to 60 gigabytes native, equating to 120 to 240 or more gigabytes on a single piece of media with compression. For more information visit www.storagetek.com