Event
Summary
Milpitas,
Calif., October 24, 2000 [Source: Quantum] - Quantum Corporation's DLT
and Storage Systems Group (DSS) announced plans to form two distinct companies
from its current DSS businesses by making its server appliances subsidiary
an independent, publicly-traded company called Snap Appliances, Inc. In
a separate news release, Snap Appliances announced that it intends to
file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) for the initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock.
Quantum
will conduct an initial public offering for less than 20 percent of Snap
Appliance shares. Approximately six months following the IPO, Quantum
intends to distribute the balance of the shares to Quantum DSS stockholders
subject to receiving a favorable IRS ruling and board approval.
Quantum
DSS will consist of two business groups: Enterprise Solutions and DLTtape.
The Enterprise Solutions Group, building on the Quantum|ATL brand, will
grow the company's current position in tape automation systems, into storage
solutions supported by direct sales and service capability. The DLTtape
Group will continue to expand its position in storage devices and media.
Market
Impact
This is merely a split-off of the former Meridian, a company Quantum bought
not too long ago. This splitting off is likely the result of Maxtor's
acquisition of Quantum. Maxtor already has a Network-Attached Storage
(NAS) group, which means someone's got to move. Outside of the effect
on the company's employees, the short-term market impact will be minimal.
(Yes, we know all too well that employee impact is often large.)
The
smaller models of the Snap Server (the 1000 and 2000) are nice little
units for small office/home office (SOHO) usage. However, we're not sure
their big model, the four drive 4100, will be able to compete with the
bigger NAS players such as Network Appliance, HP, and Dell.
For
the longer term, we see this as a move which potentially benefits Quantum/Maxtor
more than Snap Appliance, Inc. Without Quantum/Maxtor's deep pockets to
support them, Snap Appliance may have a tougher time keeping pace with
the rest of the NAS market. We would not be surprised to see Snap absorbed
by someone else down the road, especially considering the projected market
for NAS.
User
Recommendations
In general, the users should see only modest impact. As mentioned earlier,
we see the Snap Server 1000 and 2000 as good products for use in smaller
situations such as the SOHO market. One of their key selling features
is their ability to be up-and-running in five minutes or less.
We
are not yet convinced by the 4100. The idea of four drives in a 1U-high
(1.75") enclosure is enticing, and the addition of hot-swappability improves
the 4100 over its predecessor (which had serviceability issues), but the
lack of power supply redundancy means the unit is still not enterprise-ready.
Performance is sufficient for smaller environments.
Smaller
operations looking for quick, relatively inexpensive network-attached
storage should include the 4100 on the list of products to investigate.