Press Release

NEC SELECTS ADAPTEC ULTRA160 SCSI TECHNOLOGY FOR EXPRESS SERIES 8- AND 4-WAY RACK SERVERS

Major PC Server OEM the Latest to Adopt the Industry's Leading Storage I/O Solution

MILPITAS, Calif., February 28, 2000 -- Adaptec, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADPT) today announced that NEC has selected Adaptec's Ultra160 SCSI technology for their new Express 5800 8-way and 4-way rack-mount servers. Both the 8-way (180Ra-7) and 4-way (140Ra-7) Express servers, shipping with Adaptec's Ultra160 SCSI technology, are available now.

"NEC was the first Japanese company to choose Ultra160 technology for use in our Express series 2-way servers, and now we have selected the same technology for our new 4-way and 8-way servers, which demand even faster data throughput," said Yoshikazu Maruyama, general manager of NEC's Workstations and Servers Division. "As the market share leader for servers, NEC made this selection in order to deliver our customers the best performance and reliability available."

Adaptec's Ultra160 technology has been accepted by leading server manufacturers as the industry's foundation for this rapidly adopted storage I/O standard. At 160MB/s performance, Ultra160 SCSI technology boasts a data transfer rate double that of Ultra2 SCSI. Smooth "no risk" migration to this new SCSI technology is assured because users can continue to use legacy SCSI devices along with newer Ultra160 devices, with each device performing at its maximum speed. In addition, new management features provide greater data integrity preservation at higher transfer rates. Adaptec sells its Ultra160 SCSI technology at or below the price of its Ultra2 SCSI products.

"It is evident that Ultra160 SCSI is rapidly gaining a foothold in the server marketplace when industry leaders such as NEC continue to choose Adaptec technology," said Lee Caswell, director of the OEM Solutions Group at Adaptec. "In striving to meet the Internet- and enterprise-driven performance demands of their customers, the leading OEMs continue to choose Adaptec as the best storage I/O solution."

About Adaptec
Adaptec makes products and solutions that move, transfer, manage and protect valuable data that is the heart of Internet and e-business computing. Adaptec's hardware and software products are found in high-performance servers and workstations from the world's leading manufacturers, and are sold through distribution channels to enterprises, medium and small businesses, and consumers. With a range of host I/O, RAID and CD recording software products, Adaptec is a market leader in storage and digital content solutions, and a powerful enabler of today's information age. Adaptec is an S&P 500 and a NASDAQ 100 member. More information is available at https://www.adaptec.com.

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