Overland Storage Announces Integration of IBM LTO Drives in Their NEO Series LTO Tape Libraries

Overland Storage today announced they are integrating IBM Linear Tape-Open (LTO) technology into the company's line of NEO tape libraries. With over 100,000 NEO libraries installed worldwide, Overland Storage is recognized as a leader in high-capacity data backup and archive for enterprise data center environments and this offering further enhances both Overland's NEO S-Series and NEO E-Series backup and archive solutions.

"Our relationship with IBM is part of a multi-year agreement that we believe gives us the ability to enhance our data protection product set, as well as provide solutions designed to meet the growing demands for data archive," said Eric Kelly, President and CEO of Overland Storage. "While the integration of IBM LTO technology benefits our NEO Series product line, we are particularly excited about the opportunities the overall relationship will bring to our business, including the ability to leverage IBM's worldwide logistics and supply chain," said Mr. Kelly.

NEO E-Series libraries provide users with storage capacities ranging from 24TB to 3PB, and are focused on delivering flexible, robust backup and archive solutions that deliver superior cost of ownership. NEO S-Series libraries deliver storage capacities ranging from 19TB to 144TB and are designed to provide compact, cost-effective backup and archive solutions. The transition to IBM tape technology in both the NEO S-Series and NEO E-Series solutions is effective April 2012.

Overland Storage Reaches 1,500 WW Channel Partners in 2011

Base of FastTrack users grew to 4,000

Overland Storage, Inc. announced that in 2011 the number of registered partners participating in the company's FastTrack Program grew from 290 unique partners to more than 1,500 worldwide.  Products range from the Overland NEO Series Tape Libraries, SnapServer NAS DX1 and DX2 Scalable Rackmount Storage, SnapServer SAN Solutions to the REO VTL Virtual Tape Library Solutions.
 
In addition, the base of active FastTrack users grew 10x to over 4,000, driven by benefits including margin protection through deal registration, specialized on-demand training and customizable sales support tools offered to partners.

Overland's FastTrack program gives channel partners access to Overland marketing programs, personalized offline and online resources, as well as an integrated deal registration program that provides margin protection for specific end-user opportunities.

 

Overland's FastTrack program gives channel partners access to Overland marketing programs, personalized offline and online resources, as well as an integrated deal registration program that provides margin protection for specific end-user opportunities.

Additional benefits include:

• Business development funds for lead generation and brand awareness
• Quarterly partner and end-user promotions
• Dedicated field sales, field engineering and inside sales resources

Survey of Overland Storage Channel Partners
Overland Storage also announced the results of a worldwide survey of its sales partners, VARs and solution providers that demonstrates the success of the company's FastTrack Partner Program, as well as the protected margins and promotions to generate sales.

The results of the survey indicate:

• 95% of FastTrack partners say that Overland protected margins are comparable to or better than competitor offerings
• 91% of FastTrack partners report that Overland's partner promotions and protected margins help them sell more
• 89% of FastTrack partners sell Overland Storage because the company distributes its products through the channel only, resulting in significant channel engagement opportunities

"We recognize that VARs are looking to technology vendors for great products from partners they can trust," said Jillian Mansolf, vice president of global sales and marketing at Overland Storage. "The growth of our partners in 2011 and the results of our recent channel survey demonstrate that we are delivering exactly what our partners need to maximize their sales opportunities and profits."

Overland Storage NEO 8000e Wins "Made in the USA" Golden Bridge Award

Overland Storage has received the prestigious "Made in the USA" Golden Bridge Award for its commitment to 100% US-based manufacturing of its NEO 8000e enterprise tape library. The coveted annual Golden Bridge Awards program encompasses the world's best in organizational products, performance and services as well as executives and management teams from every major industry. Public, private, for-profit and non-profit organizations from all over the world were eligible to submit nominations. 

In order to qualify for the "Made in the USA" category, products must have been completely manufactured in the USA and could not contain any foreign content. With its primary manufacturing location based in San Diego, California, Overland Storage is one of the only storage companies in the industry that currently manufactures products in the USA. Overland Storage is committed to US-based manufacturing; in fact, all Overland Storage tape libraries are 100% produced and manufactured in the US, including the NEO 8000e. 

"Maintaining US-based operations is extremely important for Overland Storage and being named a winner of the Golden Bridge Awards for the 'Made in the USA' category highlights our continued dedication to domestic production," said Eric Kelly, CEO, Overland Storage. "The manufacturing sector of the US economy has experienced a decline in recent years, yet we remain committed to reinvesting and supporting the American economy by fostering domestic production, and we are proud that our tape products are manufactured in the US." 

The NEO 8000e is the next generation LTO-5 tape library solution from Overland Storage that is specifically designed for large, data intensive businesses. Built on the patented, award-winning Overland Storage NEO architecture, the NEO 8000e effortlessly expands to meet changing data storage needs and provides high data availability, redundancy and serviceability. With storage capacity of up to 3PB and rapid data transfer rates of up to 24TB/hour, the NEO 8000e delivers enterprise class data protection at a price typically associated with midrange solutions. 

More than forty judges from a broad spectrum of industry voices from around the world participated and the averages of their scores determined the 2011 Golden Bridge Business Awards winners. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on August 10, 2011 in New York.

Overland Storage enhances product service and support offerings

Overland Storage, Inc. the trusted global provider of effortless data management and data protection solutions across the data lifecycle, today announced enhanced OverlandCare service offerings for the company’s entire line of SnapServer NAS, SnapSAN, NEO Series tape products and REO Series VTL solutions. Featuring new onsite service and installation options, round-the-clock phone access to solution experts, as well as proof of concept and architectural design offerings, the expanded OverlandCare program strengthens the company’s ability to provide comprehensive technical assistance on a global scale. The enterprise-class components and flexibility of the tiered offering also empower Overland channel partners to easily customize and sell complete service and support solutions to meet customers’ specific needs.

 

Overland’s new centralized global solution call center integrates with its regional solution call center infrastructure across all of the company’s product lines. This network of solution centers provides a framework of support and services designed to enable customers to spend less time managing their infrastructure and focus more on technology innovation to grow their business.

 

Key Benefits of OverlandCare

• Significant investment by Overland Storage in infrastructure and solution call center resources to ensure quick response and one-call resolution for customers
• 24x7x365 global call center technical support now available on all Overland Storage products
• Optional four-hour onsite support now available worldwide on all SnapServer NAS, SnapSAN, NEO Series Tape and REO Series VTL products
• Onsite installation services and support for the entire Overland Storage line of data backup and data protection products
• Proof of concept and architectural design services available for the deployment of complex solutions within customers infrastructure
• Warranty certification delivery system, featuring automatic electronic distribution of warranty certificates and entitlement validation
• Secure service portal, including online product registration and access to services-related information such as the ability to track and log service calls in real time

“Strengthening our services offerings for all Overland Storage products worldwide is an important component of our commitment to making enterprise-class support and services available to companies of all sizes,” said Eric Kelly, CEO of Overland Storage. “Even as the amount of data constantly grows, we believe that the technology to store, manage and protect that data should be easy to buy, easy to deploy and easy to maintain so that companies can focus on their primary business activities. Our enhanced OverlandCare offerings further our ongoing commitment to deliver effortless data protection and data management solutions to the market.”

MOBOTIX CCTV and Overland Storage SnapServer solution stops thefts and vandalism at Saxon church

There are many items of interest in the church including an ancient stone font with a medieval carved wooden cover, six 14th century misericords, a carved reredos dating from 1890, a Victorian organ and a number of stained glass windows. Following a systematic campaign of metal thefts from the church, Paul Drakes, the Churchwarden at St. Nicholas Church felt he had to act: “We had considered CCTV for a while but the property is a grade-one listed building and over a thousand years old, so we needed to be sensitive to the heritage of the site.”

The parish of St. Nicholas, one of the UK’s oldest churches, deployed CCTV technology from MOBOTIX to protect against theft and vandalism while offering access to special services via the internet.

Paul setup a CCTV solution that provides a complete perimeter and internal view of the two acre site with just six cameras. Four of the MOBOTIX DualDome-D12 cameras cover the external perimeter of the building and just two cover the entire interior. This coverage with such a low camera count was achievable because the image quality of the MOBOTIX camera is so good that it can cover a large area whilst retaining good definition.

The system records 30 days worth of footage on an Overland Storage 2TByte SNAP server (snapserver) and is also linked via a BT broadband connection. The MOBOTIX cameras can automatically telephone a range of preset telephone numbers in the event of movement in and around the church, especially late at night when previous incidents have occurred. Recipients of a phone alert can easily and securely log-in via any internet connected PC or mobile device to view footage from any camera in real-time. “This allows us to quickly and safely assess the situation and take the appropriate measures,” explains Paul.

Since the installation of the CCTV, which Paul believes is the first of its kind in the UK to both protect and deliver church services via the internet; there have been no thefts or incidents of vandalism on the site. “Our congregation have taken to it and we are now planning to open the church over a longer period with visitors able to look around or contact us via a telephone with CCTV helping to provide a level of protection when the church is unmanned.”

Enhanced Overland Storage Fastrack Channel Partner Program

Overland Storage, today announced that its FastTrack Partner Program  – established in March 2010 – played a key role in doubling the company’s branded product sales growth over the past year. Moreover, enhancements to the sales enablement program for worldwide channel partners resulted in ten-fold growth of the registered user base and more than tripled deal registrations. The resources and support partners receive through the FastTrack Partner Program greatly increase sales close rates, benefitting both channel partners and Overland Storage.

“With the evolution of Overland’s FastTrack Partner Program, we have been able to take advantage of new lead generation programs, training and sales tools, resulting in a positive effect on our ability to close opportunities with our customers.  In addition, having the security of Overland’s deal registration program makes us more confident that the return on our effort is protected,” said Martin Suzman, vice president of operations at BackupWorks.com.

The FastTrack Partner Program maximizes revenue opportunities and profitability for worldwide channel partners by giving them exclusive access to dedicated Overland sales and marketing programs, personalized offline and online resources, an integrated deal registration program that provides up to 35 percent margin protection for registered sales opportunities, pipeline management and training.

Enhancements to the FastTrack Partner Program in 2011 include:

· Tripling of protected margins on SnapServer rackmount products from 10% to 30%

· Comprehensive profit-maximizing deal registration with automated approvals and tracking

· Improved integrated Overland Partner Portal built on salesforce.com architecture

· Exclusive partner access to new customized resources, content, contests and promotions

· Exclusive access to Overland “PartnerCasts,” a series of educational webinars developed for partners

· Lead generation opportunities and marketing program support

· Dedicated field sales, field engineering and inside sales resources

“The ongoing success of the FastTrack Partner Program has exceeded our expectations,” said Jillian Mansolf, vice president, global sales and marketing, Overland Storage. “We’re continually looking for ways to enhance our programs and listening to our partners and understanding their needs has enabled us to deliver on our commitment to provide the resources and support necessary to help our partners succeed and grow their businesses.”

Overland Storage Continues to Gain Worldwide Momentum

Overland Storage Continues to Gain Worldwide Momentum With One of the Industry's Largest Product Deployment Footprints.

Overland Storage the trusted global provider of effortless data management and data protection solutions across the data lifecycle, today announced that the company has shipped more than 400,000 units. Customers include Fortune 1000 companies and organizations across sectors including government, education and healthcare. In addition, the company has 2000 channel partners across 60 countries around the globe. As a result of the company's refocused strategic corporate vision and with the support of Overland channel partners worldwide, the company has experienced a doubling of sales across its SnapServer, SnapSAN and NEO product lines.

"Two years ago we began transforming Overland into a branded products and service company. Overland's branded sales growth and the broadening of our channel partner network are showing that the transition is progressing, and we are very pleased with the advancements toward our objectives," said Eric Kelly, CEO at Overland Storage. 

In 2010, Overland introduced three new disk-based solutions: SnapServer N2000, a block-and-file-level NAS or SAN package aimed at virtualized environments; SnapSAN S2000, a feature rich, resource-efficient iSCSI SAN platform for businesses with growing data and SnapSAN S1000, a 2U 12-drive modular SAN solution that delivers highly available storage services for business critical applications that require superior performance. Sales of these new products in 2010 helped double Overland's revenue of disk-based products. Overland also introduced the NEO 8000e, the company's fastest and highest capacity tape library solution specifically designed for large, data intensive businesses.

Overland Storage Appoints Martin Lynch as Vice President of Operations

Overland Storage  announced the appointment of Martin Lynch as vice president of operations. In this position, Lynch will be responsible for the company's strategic and tactical global business operations, including managing end-to-end supply chain and quality for the company.

"We are very pleased to welcome Martin to the Overland executive team to lead the company's global business operations," said Eric Kelly, CEO, Overland Storage. "With over 20 years of experience and a strong background in engineering, Martin will be a great asset as we continue to pursue not only aggressive operating efficiencies but as we develop a product road map that delivers continued value for our customers."

Overland Storage Product lines include both tape and disk solutions such as the SnapServer NAS Solutions, NEO Tape Libraries, and Overland REO VTL products.  The Snap Server brand has seen much success with the recent launch of the SnapServer N2000 NAS a 12 bay 24TB solution with expansion capabilities by adding additional N2000 units or up to 7 E2000 24TB each JBODs.

Previously, Lynch served as executive vice president of operations for 2Wire, Inc., where he built the company's operations department from the ground up. In this role, Lynch was responsible for the company's worldwide supply chain, manufacturing, business operations and end-to-end product life cycle as well as new product introduction. Prior to that, Lynch held several executive operations and engineering roles at enterprise and consumer technology companies, including Cornice Inc., Maxtor Corporation, Coulter Corporation and others. Lynch received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Boston University and holds several patents in disk drive channel optimization code.

Overland Storage Announces Successful Private Placement Financing

Overland Storage has signed definitive agreements for a private placement of 8,722,904 shares of Common Stock of the Company and Warrants to purchase up to 3,838,069 shares of Common Stock for a gross purchase price of approximately $15.4 million on March 16, 2011. The purchase price for one share of Common Stock and a Warrant to purchase 0.44 shares of Common Stock is $1.765. The Warrants will have an exercise price of $1.71 per share, will expire March 21, 2016 and are exercisable in whole or in part, at any time prior to expiration. The transaction is anticipated to close on March 21, 2011 subject to customary closing conditions. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes and working capital, including the funding of product development and sales and marketing expansion, as well as the repayment of certain indebtedness. Overland will continue to expand upon their award winning brands - SnapServer NAS, SnapSAN, Overland Storage NEO Autoloaders and REO VTL lines.

Clinton Group, Inc. has agreed to lead the private placement.

"We are pleased to formally begin our partnership with Eric Kelly and the Overland Storage management team," said Joseph A. De Perio, a portfolio manager of Clinton Group, Inc. "We believe this capital raise provides Overland Storage with a substantial runway to achieve its operational and financial goals and positions the company well for long-term growth and profitability," said De Perio. As part of the transaction, Mr. De Perio has agreed to join the board of directors.

"This additional capital will allow us to accelerate our product development efforts and continue our investment in the sales and marketing resources required to fuel growth of our products in our worldwide channel," said Eric Kelly, President and CEO of Overland Storage. "In addition, the board and I are pleased to welcome Joseph De Perio to the board of directors. Joe's experience, along with Clinton Group's financial commitment, will be invaluable as we continue to drive the business forward and seek to execute on our strategic plan."

SnapServer Sales increased 53% over the prior quarter - Overland Storage

Overland Storage, Inc. reported second quarter results for its fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2010.

Eric Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Overland Storage, said: "With the support of our channel partners worldwide, we are executing on our plan to increase sales of our higher margin branded products and services. Branded product sales grew 21.7% sequentially and total branded revenue is now 92.3% of total sales, up significantly from the prior quarter," said Kelly. "Additionally I am happy to report that our revenue, gross margin and operating expenses for the first half of FY 2011 were all within the guidance that we previously announced. In addition to achieving these financial objectives, we introduced a new SAN product line and a new NAS product into the marketplace as planned."

Net Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 was $17.9 million, an increase of 2% from the prior quarter and a decrease of 12.2% from the second fiscal quarter of 2010. The net loss for the quarter was $0.9 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to a net loss of $6.5 million, or $0.59 per share, in the prior quarter and net loss of $2.6 million, or $0.47 per share, in the second quarter of 2010. Gross margins for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 were 31.1%, a significant increase from 23.6% the prior quarter, and an increase from the 28.5% in the second quarter of fiscal 2010. Operating expenses were $9.2 million, an improvement of $0.7 million from $9.9 million the prior quarter, including $1 million in non-cash stock compensation expenses in each quarter. We ended the second quarter of fiscal 2011 with cash and cash equivalents were $6.8 million, an increase of $2.5 million from $4.3 million at the end of the prior quarter.

Highlights:

• Total branded products revenue, excluding service, increased 21.7% sequentially and 3.2% over the same period a year ago.
• The SnapServer and SnapSAN series of disk based products increased 53% over the prior quarter and 95% in the same quarter in the prior year.
• NEO SERIES tape products increased 10.7% from the prior quarter.
• Gross Margins for the quarter were 31.1%, up 750 basis points from the first quarter and up 250 basis points from the same quarter in the prior year.
• The Company generated $3.0 million in other income from the sale of a minority interest in proceeds the company may receive in connection with the current IP litigation.
• The Company launched the SnapSAN S1000, a new entry in the midrange SAN marketplace. The S1000 has a modular, scalable, dual controller architecture and was designed to anchor our SnapSAN portfolio and expand our total available market.

Overland's top tech guy: Great things ahead

Barrall talks tape

We had the chance to talk to Geoff Barrall, the founder of BlueArc and Data Robotics, about his work at Overland Storage, where he is charge of product engineering.

He came into Overland after having been his own boss for two decades but "realised that the challenges are very similar and found my feet". CEO Eric Kelly and sales and marketing VP Jillian Mansolf are great to work with, and "I have the right team in place (including some of my old friends from BlueArc and Data Robotics) and everybody is working really well together".

He couldn't discuss the product roadmap in any specific terms at all, but he did say "it's the most exciting I've ever had", and discussed it in a little more detail.

"On the SNAP Server side of the business it's public knowledge that we acquired the Maxiscale scale-out file system which we're excited to integrate and deliver.

Tape market large and growing

"As for tape it's really exciting for me to be working in that area. My Phd is in Cybernetics and so the fact that I'm actually responsible for delivering robotics for a living now ties right back to that. The tape market is large and growing but Overland has work to do to regain its former share.

"Fortunately very little innovation has been applied to this market for some time (by any vendor) and so it's a great area to be creative and I have one of the few teams remaining in the world with the skills to create the necessary technology."

There's a surprise. Tape product engineering developments haven't been switched off. HP, IBM, Quantum, SpectraLogic and other tape product suppliers can look forward to some interesting competition.

"We also introduced two SAN products," said Barrall. "These seem to be doing well and it's exciting to have a product portfolio to work with that spans NAS, SAN, Archive Disk and Tape. Lots of room for synergy there.

Should people be concerned out the length of time it's taking to produce products from his engineering department? "Anybody who knows engineering will know that it take around 18 months to deliver something new and around 24 for something great. I'm working on that kind of time frame and am very excited about 2011 and beyond."

Overland Storage SnapSAN S2000 achieves Windows Server 2008 R2 interoperability certification

Overland Storage Inc., a provider of effortless data management and data protection solutions across the data lifecycle, announced on Tuesday that its SnapSAN S2000 has been certified as compatible with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, which includes compatibility for Microsoft Hyper-V. Overland's SnapSAN S2000, which was designed for virtualized server environments, including Windows Server environments, completed a rigorous verification process to ensure seamless compatibility with Windows Server 2008 R2 virtualization software, providing confidence in joint solution compatibility.

The SnapSAN S2000 enables companies using Windows Server, Hyper-V, VMware, Unix, Linux, Citrix, or Mac OS X to take advantage of SAN (storage area network) capabilities that have traditionally been considered too complex to manage without specialized expertise, including active-active mirroring and failover, snapshots, replication and Microsoft Cluster Server support. With this certification, SnapSAN is certified to support Microsoft Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) Writer directly for consistent replication and backup and active-active failover for clustered Hyper-V servers.

Featuring integrated Windows management with automated capacity expansion, the solution enables policy-based storage volume growth to occur in a just-in-time manner without IT intervention, eliminating guesswork and over-provisioning. The SnapSAN S2000 scales effortlessly to 192 TB and is a cost effective solution for businesses with virtualized server environments or storage consolidation requirements.

"SnapSAN S2000, our first iSCSI SAN solution, was built from the ground up with virtualized server environments and their managers in mind," said Joe Disher, solutions marketing manager, Overland Storage. "This interoperability certification further ensures that we are able to deliver compatible products that address the specific storage needs of joint customers. Overland remains dedicated to working closely with Microsoft, and offering storage solutions that can be quickly and easily deployed within existing environments for instant scalability and reliability. Overland strives to deliver storage solutions that are truly effortless for businesses of any size."

SnapSAN S2000, along with Overland's Windows Server certified products can be found in the Windows Server Catalog. The SnapSAN S2000 and SnapServer E2000 expansion unit are available from authorized resellers worldwide.

Jillian Mansolf of Overland Storage Recognized by Everything Channel’s CRN Magazine

Overland Storage, today announced that Jillian Mansolf, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, has been recognized by Everything Channel’s CRN Magazine as one of the top Women of the Channel. CRN’s annual list recognizes female executives across vendors’ channel organizations, distributors and solution providers for their accomplishments over the past year and the far-reaching impact they are having on the technology industry going forward. This year’s Women of the Channel were chosen by the editors of CRN magazine based on their achievements as executives and the amount of influence they wield over the technology channel.

Leveraging 20 years of experience successfully driving sales and marketing initiatives at innovation-oriented technology companies including Dell, Maxtor, Snap Appliance and Data Robotics, among others, Jillian is committed to, and succeeding in, rejuvenating Overland's channel strategy while increasing revenue for Overland and its partners worldwide. After joining Overland in the fall of 2009, Mansolf spearheaded the company's initiative to deliver high-margin, effortless data management and data protection solutions to the channel. In addition to overseeing the launches of three new products sold exclusively through the channel, Mansolf unveiled an expanded channel program that offers new ways for partners to increase profitability, including a more robust deal registration program and a partner portal with new sales enablement tools, training and resources.

“Women hold many prominent executive positions at vendor organizations, distributors and solution provider organizations, providing critical insight and influence when it comes to technology and the channel. We want to honor and congratulate these women for their contributions to the industry and their respective organizations,” said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel.

"All of us at Overland Storage are proud of our strong channel heritage and to be one of the few companies that can truthfully make the bold claim that we have never sold direct—we've been committed to our channel strategy since day one. To that end, we strongly value the relationships that we've built and are as dedicated as ever to our partners worldwide," said Jillian Mansolf. "This recognition from Everything Channel's CRN Magazine is a testament to that dedication and our providing partners with best support and resources possible to maximize revenue opportunities."

A special feature of the Women of the Channel is in the July issue of CRN Magazine and expanded coverage is featured online at www.crn.com.

SnapServer 410 Promotion by Overland Storage

Overland Storage today announced a new promotion for this quarter. The promotion relates to the SnapServer 410 series, which is a rackmount Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. The 410 series is available in a 2TB, 3TB, 4TB and now an 8TB platform using 4 drives and can be configured in RAID 5.

The promotion announced today is an excellent saving opportunity for end-users to get 2TB of storage absolutely free. Order a 2TB SnapServer 410 NAS appliance by Overland Storage, and receive a 4TB SnapServer NAS unit instead. Another way of looking at it, would be, you're getting a 4TB SnapServer for the price of a 2TB unit.

The SnapServer 410 by Overland Storage offers a simple, safe, flexible and reliable backup solution. You can centrally manage of of your snapservers,locally or remotely, replicate data to one or multiple snapservers with Enterprise Data Replication software (EDR), snapshots, and maximize data availability and protection with advanced RAID options.

This offer is available now through September 20, 2010. Please contact your BackupWorks representative to find out how you can get 2TB of free storage and have best in class SnapServer NAS storage by Overland Storage. The products at hand are as follows:

SnapServer 410 2TB (part # 5325302029)
SnapServer 410 4TB (part # 5325302223)

Please contact us today at 866 801 2944

Overland Storage Wins Storage Vendor of the Year

Overland Storage a global provider of effortless data management and data protection solutions across the data lifecycle has won the ‘Storage Vendor of the Year’ category at the 2010 MicroScope ACEs channel award ceremony held at the Lancaster Hotel, London.

Congratulations to Overland for winning Storage Vendor of the Year at this year’s Microscope ACEs Awards. The awards are designed to recognize resellers, distributors and vendors who deliver excellence in IT products and services. HTML clipboardThis award reflects our commitment to the execution of our plan to deliver new technology to the market and to our channel partners who are remain loyal and committed in helping us take the Overland Storage brand to the next level.

Vendor Metamorphosis, Or Resurrection?

Back in July, I was skeptical that longtime tape automation vendors Tandberg Data and Overland Storage would successfully transit the tempest that is the SMB storage market in the recession. Both are announcing products and road maps that fit their SMB customers better, and Overland has both managed to raise another $12 million and hire Geoff Barrall to be their CTO, which could keep them around long enough to deliver on the vision. MAID pioneer Copan wasn't so lucky, however.

The core of Overland's vision is to make the transition from collecting 80 percent of revenue from HP's OEM tape automation sales to resurrecting the once incredibly valuable SnapServer brand. Their new CEO, Eric Kelly, has an attachment to Snap, having been part of the team that bought it from Quantum for $10 million and sold it to Adaptec for $100 million, now bringing it to Overland for $3 million. As often as Snap's been bought and sold, a guy could make a good living just being their investment banker. Kelly's made some good decisions at Overland, killing off their Ultamus SAN array being at the top of my list.

I had lunch with Eric and Overland's marketing and sales VP Jillian Mansolf a couple of weeks ago, and they get that the keys to the SMB market are making things easy to use and developing channel loyalty. This is, by the way, a model that the pre-Dell Equallogic executed very well.

Now they've added Barrall, who founded BlueArc, which makes high-speed NAS devices. Barrall also founded Data Robotics, which makes the Drobo NAS, and he developed the "Beyond RAID" technology that allows a NAS to use different sized disks in a RAID array. Barrall clearly understands how to make a successful NAS company, so I won't count Overland among the walking wounded just yet.

The new S2000 iSCSI array isn't just a re-package of the iSCSI target Snap servers have had for years. They've re-written both the iSCSI target to make it faster, and the user interface, replacing the web GUI with Windows plug-ins that greatly simplify provisioning. They've also added a vCenter plugin and high availability for VMware via replication and failover. With SAS and SATA options and expandability to 120TB via SAS JBODs, S2000 is competitive with other entry-level SAN arrays like HP's MSA and Dell Equallogic and is probably a step up form EMC's AX.

Overland Storage Signed for Private Placement

Overland Storage, Inc, has signed definitive agreements for a private placement of 794,659 shares of Convertible Preferred Stock of the Company and Warrants to purchase up to 6,373,266 shares of Common Stock for a gross purchase price of approximately $12.0 million on February 18, 2010.

The Preferred Stock is initially convertible into 4,521,648 shares of Common Stock. The Warrants will have an initial exercise price of $2.583 per share which will expire February 22, 2015 and are exercisable in whole or in part, at any time prior to expiration. The transaction is anticipated to close on February 22, 2010 subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company intends to use the proceeds from the offering to fund product development, sales and marketing expansion and general working capital requirements. "We are extremely pleased to have completed this round of funding," said Eric Kelly, President and CEO of Overland Storage. "Having additional capital puts us in the position to execute on our vision and strategy, which is important to our partners, customers and employees."

CEO Eric Kelly Now Also President of Overland Storage

Former president was Vernon LoForti who left the company last September.

On January 5, 2010, the Board of Directors of Overland Storage, upon the recommendation of the Nominating and Governance Committee of our Board of Directors, appointed Eric L. Kelly as President. Mr. Kelly will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors. The board did not enter into or amend any plan, contract or arrangement between Overland and Mr. Kelly in connection with his appointment as our President.
Mr. Kelly, age 51, has served as Chief Executive Officer since January 2009 and a member of the Board of Directors since November 2007.

From April 2007 to January 2009, he served as president of Silicon Valley Management Partners, Inc., a management consulting and M&A advisory firm, which he co-founded in April 2007. From July 2004 to August 2006,

Mr. Kelly was Vice President and General Manager of storage systems solutions at Adaptec, Inc. From August 2002 to July 2004, he served as President and CEO of Snap Appliance, Inc., which was acquired by Adaptec. From March 2000 to June 2002, Mr. Kelly served as President, Network Systems Division of Maxtor Corporation. Prior to Maxtor, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Isyndicate, Inc. From July 1998 to January 2000 he was the Enterprise Vice President for Dell Computer Corporation. From 1980 to 1998 he served in executive or managerial roles with Netpower Incorporated, Diamond Multimedia Systems Incorporated, Conner Peripherals Incorporated, Marq Technologies Incorporated and IBM.

Jillian Mansolf at Overland Storage recognized as one of the top 100 women in the channel

SAN DIEGO - August 26, 2009 - Overland Storage, Inc. (Nasdaq: OVRL) today announced that Jillian Mansolf, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, has been recognized by Everything Channel’s CRN Magazine as one of the Top 100 Women in the Channel. The Top 100 Women in the Channel were chosen by the editors of the magazine based on the women’s achievements as executives and the amount of influence they wield over the technology channel. The Top 100 Women in the Channel represent a changing trend in what traditionally has been an all-male industry.

“We are very pleased to see women executives reaching the highest levels in a wide range of dynamic companies. It is with great pleasure that we honor the women who have made a profound impact in the technology marketplace,” said Robert C. DeMarzo, senior vice president and editorial director, Everything Channel. “We offer our congratulations to Jillian Mansolf for her significant contributions to our industry."

For the past 13 years, Mansolf has leveraged her significant channel sales and marketing expertise to execute highly successful global channel programs for a variety of high-technology organizations. Most recently, she joined Overland to lead the company’s sales organization and expand its strategic marketing efforts worldwide. Overland continually reinforces its channel commitment through the ongoing development of customer-centric resource and lead-generation programs designed to help its channel partners accelerate sales cycles while driving increased revenue and profitability.

“It’s an honor to join this group of inspirational leaders who are being recognized for making an indelible mark on the channel,” said Mansolf. “At Overland, our unwavering’ dedication to building and sustaining long-term channel relationships is reinforced by a constant focus on providing innovative products, sales tools, training and the educational resources our partners need to address their customers’ ever-increasing business requirements.”

Overland Storage Inks Strategic Disbribution Agreement with Synnex

Overland Storage, Inc. today announced that SYNNEX Corporation, a leading business process services company, has been named a new Overland North American distribution partner. Under the terms of the strategic distribution agreement, SYNNEX will add Overland’s complete line of storage and data protection appliances to the suite of solutions that SYNNEX already offers to its more than 15,000 resellers.

The agreement reinforces Overland’s continued channel commitment while complementing the company’s focus on bringing enterprise-class capabilities to mid-range customers through affordable and reliable products that reduce backup windows, accelerate recoveries, streamline data retention and facilitate cost-effective disaster recovery. Additionally, the partnership with SYNNEX will provide added benefits for Overland channel partners seeking innovative disk-based backup and recovery, tape automation as well as SAN and NAS data protection appliances.

According to Ravi Pendekanti, vice president of worldwide marketing for Overland Storage, the distribution agreement with SYNNEX will broaden the reach of Overland’s products while providing channel partners with strong technical expertise and support. “Overland is extremely pleased to partner with SYNNEX to help its vast community of resellers solve
ever-increasing data protection problems,” he says. “Together, we can offer a diverse portfolio of solutions backed by the right level of technical support and responsive service to ensure the availability and accessibility of business-critical data.”

SYNNEX will distribute Overland’s complete product line, including REO SERIES® disk-based backup and recovery, NEO SERIES® and ARCvault™ award-winning tape automation, ULTAMUS™ RAID high-performance SAN and Snap
Server® NAS-based data protection appliances.

"Overland Storage is a well-recognized name in the storage industry, with a reputation for developing affordable, reliable, cost competitive products tailored for small, midrange and distributed enterprises," says Bob Stegner, senior vice president of marketing, North America, for SYNNEX Corporation. "We are very selective in determining which technologies are added to our arsenal of products and are delighted to give our resellers the opportunity to choose Overland for their customers’ data protection needs."