For Immediate Release Jan 4, 2000

CONTACT: Alice Gannon-McKinley Marketing Communications Manager Ph: 425-487-0122 Ext: 207 Fax: 425-487-0467 Email: aliceg@softarch.com

Bothell, WA….. Software Architects, Inc. (SAI) announces FireWire and OS 9 support for DVD-RAM drives with new release of DVD-RAM TuneUp™. The announcement is being made at this week’s MacWorld Expo in San Francisco (South Hall, booth #313).

DVD-RAM TuneUp is the software you need to set-up, run, format, test, read, write and rewrite to DVD-RAM disks. SAI is the first and only software company to offer Mac users everything they need to "plug and play" an ATAPI, SCSI and now FireWire DVD-RAM drive of their choice on their Mac. DVD-RAM TuneUp accelerates the drive’s read performance with its Rocketcache™ tiered caching technology that utilitizes both RAM and hard disk cache to store previously read data from the DVD-RAM drive.

The first DVD-RAM drives to ship with the FireWire and OS 9 compatible edition of DVD-RAM TuneUp will be available from Fantom Drives (booth # 3226) and EZQuest, Inc. (booth1247). Commenting on the news, Rezza Zaimi, general manager at Fantom Drives stated: "Recent events in the data storage industry have created a vortex in the availability of FireWire™ storage peripherals. SAI’s DVD-RAM TuneUp represents the culmination of FireWire, one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed, being integrated with DVD, the most revolutionary of all technologies currently re-shaping the data storage industry. We at Fantom Drives are excited to offer the cutting edge in DVD and FireWire capability."

President of EZQuest Ebrahim Zmehrir remarked: "The recent surge in user knowledge and demand for DVD-RAM together with the industry’s migration to Apple’s FireWire serial technology has opened up tremendous opportunity for those who can offer a complete solution. Working with SAI has positioned EZQuest’s FireWire DVD-RAM drives at the forefront of the industry ready to meet the increasing demand in DVD-RAM sub-system solutions."

Product Features
Equipped with the latest DVD-RAM TuneUp, the Mac user will be able to:

• Set-up and run a SCSI, ATAPI or FireWire DVD-RAM drive of their choice on any Mac running OS 7, 8 or OS 9 (8.5 or higher for FireWire)
  
• Read CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM and DVD-RAM disks in your DVD-RAM drive
  
• Write and rewrite data for just 1 cent per megabyte to block addressable DVD-RAM disks
  
• Format, test and write to DVD-RAM media that you can seamlessly read and rewrite to on a Mac or Windows platform
  
• Enhance the speed of your DVD-RAM drive with SAI’s multi-level read caching technology
  

Product Components
DVD-RAM TuneUp consists of:

• "SmartDVD!™ device driver – "smart" because if automatically configures to the type of disk used;
  
• DVD-RAM formatting utility to format, partition and test media;
  
• The UDF file system, which allows you to read and write to DVD-RAM disks in both UDF and HFS+ and gives you a "finder like" interface for "drag and drop" file conversion; and
  
• "Rocketcache", a multi-level read caching technology to blast past the slower access and transfer rates of removable media drives. Rocketcache technology compliments FireWire technology for even greater performance gains.
  

Pricing & Availability
List price is $99.95. Available in January 2000.

About SAI
Software Architects, Inc. develops and publishes system-level utility software and specialty applications for personal computers. Its line of Windows and Macintosh software includes file systems, disk management and acceleration, personal backup, image enhancement and pre-mastering applications.

Founded in 1987, the company has over twelve years of commercial experience licensing its technology to OEM manufacturers and systems integrators worldwide. As a member of the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) as well as the DVD Forum since their inception, SAI plays a leading role in the evolution of the Universal Disk Format and DVD technology.

For more information contact us at:

US Headquarters Software Architects, Inc 19102 North Creek Parkway, Suite 101 Bothell, WA 98011 USA Phone: 425-487-0122 Fax: 425-487-0467 Email: sales@softarch.com Web site: www.softarch.com San Jose Offices Phone/Fax: 408-266-0849

European Office Software Architects, Inc David Butcher Sales Director for Western Europe Feringastrasse 6 D-85774 Unterföhring Germany Phone: 49-89-99-216-279 Fax: 49-89-99-216-275 Email: davidb@softarch.com

Japan Office Software Architects, Inc Yoshihisa Suda Japan Manager 3-20-13-302 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, Japan 150-0002 Phone: 81-3-3406-1875 Fax: 81-3-3409-7095 Email: yoshihisas@softarch.com