Situation

Founded in 1980, Quantum Corporation (NYSE: DSS) is a long time leader in data protection — providing tape drive, tape media, tape automation and disk-based backup products and services. As the world's leading supplier of half-inch cartridge tape drives, and with more than 100 million cartridges sold, Quantum's DLTape™ technology is the standard for tape backup, archiving and recovery of critical data in the mid-range enterprise.

In the fall of 2003, Quantum was preparing to roll out its enhanced third-generation Super DLTape™ drive — the SDLT 600. Wanting to fully understand and compare true performance of this drive in relation to the major competitive drives, Quantum looked to Percept Technology Labs to provide independent 3rd party competitive performance testing.

Solution

Percept's testing experts worked with the Quantum team to customize the optimal test plan to give a clear picture of product read/write performance. This competitive benchmarking would show exactly how the SDLT 600 tape drive compared with competitive benchmarking would show exactly how the SDLT 600 tape drive compared with competitive products from IBM, HP and Sony. The specific performance measure tested, analyzed and documented was:

• Raw transfer performance — testing revealed precisely how fast each drive could read and write data, at various block sizes.

Results and Benefits

Leveraging years of in-depth testing experience, Percept ran a series of proven performance analysis tests on each drive, resulting in unbiased, reliable data for the key performance measurement listed above. The results showed exactly where and by how much the Quantum SDLT 600 tape drive outperformed its competition. click here for the complete whte paper

Quantum's SDLT 600 (see table 1 below) showed a performance advantage over the competing HP Ultrium 460 LTO 2, Sony AIT-3 and IBM 3580 Ultrium LTO 2 tape drives in averaged performance over 10 passes of a controlled data set of moderately compressible data.

The SDLT 600 drive's performance advantage is directly attributable to two features of the SDLT 600:

• the pivoting optical servo system which enables the SDLT 600 to maintain proper head/high tape speeds
• the sixteen-channel Magneto-Resistive Cluster Head (MRC)

Business & Financial Benefits

Because Percept's Competitive Performance Testing yielded specific, quantifiable data from an unbiased testing lab, Quantum was able to substantiate its message of superior performance in product literature, sales presentations, and web site — giving prospects and customers a clear picture of exactly how the leading tape drives performed in relation to one another.

"Percept Technology Labs has been a key partner in delivering competitive performance testing that has provided powerful confirmation of our drives' leading performance. By using an unbiased, independent test lab, the data we receive is credible and accurate. It has been extremely helpful for us to identify our areas of strength and be able to quantify exactly how well our product performs in relation to the leading competitive products. This compelling data has been a powerful tool which has helped launch sales of the SDLT 600 product."

Don Boxley — Product Marketing, Quantum Corporation

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Situation

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products including two of the industry's leading new wireless mouse products.

While more and more users enjoy with the freedom and ease of use associated with the elimination of peripheral wires on their desktops, the leading frustration with wireless products stems from insufficient battery life. After all, the benefits gained from a wireless design are quickly overruled if work comes to a halt due to a prematurely dead battery. For this reason, Microsoft's goal is to provide customers with six months of operational battery life under average usage conditions.

Solution

Microsoft's commitment to delivering sufficient battery life in its wireless products drove the firm's decision to use Percept Technology Labs to test and independently verify the true battery life its two newest wireless mouse products along with comparable products from major competitor, Logitech®.

Testing battery life in a wireless mouse is not as straight-forward as one might think. Because power conservation in the idle and sleep modes is significant in a battery life comparison, you cannot simply run several mouse products and observe which one lasts longer. That's why it was vital that Percept determine and use a motion/user profile that was truly representative of how and how much a typical user actually moves wireless mouse products. After analyzing several mouse usability studies for detailed motion profiles, Percept staff selected the most representative mouse motion profile to be used in testing, which showed that a mouse is in its deepest sleep state 74% of the time and in motion 26% of the time.

As an independent lab using proven methodologies and the latest testing equipment, Percept's staff of experts was able to tailor and run the optimal test suite to obtain and analyze true performance data that delivered unbiased and accurate results.

Business & Financial Benefits

Percept's testing demonstrated that the Microsoft mouse products use less battery current in sleep modes, and use less integrated average current during motion tests. Both of these factors contribute to a longer battery life. Bottom line results indicate that:

• The battery life of the Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer will be an estimated 3.9 times longer than the Logitech Cordless Click Plus, and
• The battery life of the Microsoft Optical Mouse will be an estimated 3.5 times longer than the Logitech Cordless Click Mouse.

"Using an independent test lab to measure and validate our battery life performance is essential to our commitment to deliver the battery life expectancy that is so important to our customers. Percept's staff understood the key issues in designing and running relevant and valid tests that give a truly representative picture of how our products (and our competitors' products) perform in typical usage patterns in true user environments."

Christy Hughes, Mouse Product Manager - Microsoft

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Situation

BSI (Benchmark Storage Innovations, now Quantum DLT Division) is a storage automation and device manufacturer dedicated to delivering exceptional reliability and winning price/performance in their products. BSI's products are the preferred choice among leading systems OEMs including Dell, HP, and IBM.

BSI's ground-breaking business model focuses on growing the company through extended relationships. One of these key partnerships is the firm's alliance with Percept Technology Labs to meet all of BSI's product testing needs.

Solution

From 1999 to 2002, BSI designed six new tape and automation products. For each new product, Percept defined a test plan, created necessary test processes and tools, and executed Design Verification Testing (DVT) to assess and improve product design. Percept worked closely with Benchmark to resolve issues, improve performance and deliver fully design verified products to their major OEM customers. In addition to DVT, Percept performed all of Benchmark's compliance testing and certifications.

The end result was that BSI confidently shipped each fully tested product on time. All of BSI's products were well received by end users and OEM customers, and all testing and certifications were completed on time and within budget.

Technology Benefits

Working to meet extremely tight deadlines, Benchmark made rapid design changes which were tested immediately by Percept. Percept's broad and in-depth testing experience and commitment to keeping each project on schedule drove the team to do whatever it took to validate BSI's improved designs in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks.

Business & Financial Benefits

With the benefit of Percept's testing expertise, Benchmark's engineering staff was able to focus exclusively on developing and manufacturing products while Percept handled all testing requirements within the given timeframe and budget. BSI saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital equipment and test personnel by utilizing Percept's state-of-the-art testing facility and experienced staff. The alternative for BSI was investing in costly in-house lab facilities, hiring a large testing staff, and time-consuming test development.

"Because of Percept's expertise coupled with Benchmark's outsourcing strategy, Benchmark selected them as a strategic partner for DVT and Compliance testing for all Benchmark tape and automation products. Percept's in-depth experience and proven testing methodologies have been invaluable tools which have empowered us to streamline our product development and testing processes. As a result of the Percept team's expertise and responsiveness, we have been able to launch quality products and hit critical market windows, in addition to realizing significant cost-savings."

Lew Fraunfelder — President, Benchmark Storage Innovations

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Situation

Founded in 1972, Particle Measuring Systems (PMS) provides precision instruments used for detecting contaminants in aerosols, liquids, gas streams and vacuum processing environments. The firm's comprehensive line of particle counters enables users to monitor and qualify acceptable levels of contamination within the manufacturing environment. Through a merger with UK-based Spectris plc, PMS has expanded business development activities into other markets around the world, and is committed to a global leadership position in the microcontamination control business.

This worldwide expansion drove the requirement for PMS to test its products for global compliance, but because projects were sporadic, it did not make sense for the firm to hire a full time compliance engineer. In Q4 2002, as PMS prepared to introduce a new aerosol particle measuring sensor, the firm turned to Percept Technology Labs for its extensive compliance expertise and ability to respond to tight timelines.

Solution

PMS sent an engineering prototype to Percept to determine if the unit would pass final compliance testing. Percept's compliance team tested and analyzed product performance quickly, and then worked closely with PMS engineers to make several important modifications. These key engineering changes resulted in a product that met compliance, manufacturability and performance requirements.

After the product was modified and finalized and it was time for compliance certification, a test plan was created, and the final product configuration was tested without incurring further cost or product delays.

Technical Benefits

By leveraging Percept's compliance expertise, PMS engineering staff is free to concentrate on their product design issues without having to worry about the final compliance testing process. Additionally, the Percept compliance team is available to explain information about important compliance issues — essentially becoming PMS's "in-house" compliance resource by sharing its wealth of experience and knowledge in this area.

Business & Financial Benefits

Because PMS does not need to bring on a full-time employee for testing, they are able to save on personnel costs. Additionally, Percept's experience in regulatory testing and design enabled PMS to save money by cutting costs in the product design.

"Over the past year Percept has performed all of the CE mark and HALT testing on ten PMS products. Percept's work has been excellent. Every project has been completed on time, and the team was able to finish each project effectively with minimal assistance, so we were able to focus our energies on other engineering issues."

Ed Green, Director of Engineering — Particle Measuring Systems

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Situation

Founded in the early 1960s, German-based BDT (Büro- und Datentechnik GmbH & Co KG) is an established developer and OEM provider of data storage and archiving systems. Partnering with the industry's leading tape drive manufacturers, BDT delivers archiving systems which utilize their 8-Slot ThinStor Autoloader coupled with tape drives from Quantum, HP, IBM and others.

BDT's autoloader systems allows companies to automate their tape storage backup processes. As the autoloader rotates, it feeds tapes in and out of the tape drive, thus eliminating the need for manual intervention and the potential for human error.

As BDT prepared to roll out their autoloader for use with Quantum's SDLT220 and SDLT320 drives, the company needed a clear picture of how well this system would work on a number of OS (operating system) and ISV (Independent Software Vendor) combinations.

Solution

BDT turned to Percept Technology Labs for Percept's extensive OS+ISV cross-platform expertise. Percept was able to quickly set up the testing environment to observe and analyze the BDT product's functionality across a matrix of OS+ISV combinations.

BDT delivered two autoloader systems to Percept, and Percept's staff began to gather initial data and run preliminary testing immediately. A week after Percept received the units, an engineer from BDT joined the Percept testing team, working side by side for the next three days. In a collaborative effort, BDT's engineer participated in the process and learned from Percept's OS+ISV expertise. After testing the product on a number of ISV backup software packages running on several operating systems, BDT's engineer returned to Germany and Percept finished the remainder of the testing.

Technology Benefits

Not only did Percept engineers run the tests quickly and efficiently, they worked with BDT's in-house engineer, shared years of experience and trained the engineer in proven OS+ISV testing processes and methodologies.

Business & Financial Benefits

After running initial testing, Percept took BDT through the actual certification process for Legato NetWorker software on key platforms. These certifications enabled BDT to offer these certified autoloader products to their customers and begin to realize revenue for the corporation.

By using Percept, BDT was able to shorten their testing cycle, and ship their product earlier to market.

By utilizing Percept's fully equipped ISV/Interoperability lab and expertise, BDT save tremendously by avoiding purchasing costly lab equipment, and not hiring additional skilled staff.

"At BDT, we strive to satisfy our customers with high quality products tailored to meet their requirements. In much the same way, Percept Technology Labs worked with us to create a customized test plan that met our specific requirements at BDT. We were able to quickly assess our autoloader's performance on various ISV backup packages operating on key platforms. Not only did Percept run the tests quickly and efficiently, they also shared their OS+ISV technical expertise, which will in turn, allow us to provide high quality storage archive systems to our customers."

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