Exabyte Cutting Tape Automation Prices

The tape automation vendor is cutting prices for all of its automated tape backup solutions by 20 percent to 25 percent, said Kerry Brock, vice president of marketing of the Boulder, Colo.-based company.

The price cuts make tape automation more affordable to smaller businesses, said Brock. "We are now making tape automation available to a larger class of businesses, and the VARs that sell to them," he said. "This gives VARs the chance to go in and teach customers the importance of backup schemes, sell more tapes, and get more profits."

Exabyte's Magnum tape autoloader with one LTO-3 drive and space for seven drives is now street priced at $4,999, compared to the previous price of $6,300. The LTO-2 version of that product is now priced at $3,999, down from $4,999. And the VXA-2 PacketLoader is now priced at $1,499, compared to the earlier price of $1,999.

Exabyte is also increasing the spifs it offers solution providers by 100 percent on its LTO-based tape automation products, and is adding a spif on its newest product, the VXA-320 PacketLoader with one drive and ten cartridge slots, for the first time, said Brock.