[ Features | Specifications | Press Release | Reviews | Buy ]

FirmTek Announces and Ships Full Featured Dual-Bay Hot-Swappable Serial ATA External Enclosure

New product ships alongside innovative external SATA host adapter, offering hot-swap capabilities for Macintosh and PC

UNION CITY, California (November 30, 2004) -- FirmTek, LLC, the world’s leading developer of ATA host adapter solutions for Apple’s Macintosh, has announced and begun shipping their new external SeriTek/1EN2 Serial ATA drive enclosure, providing the ultimate in storage flexibility when combined with the new SeriTek/1SE2 host adapter on a Macintosh or PC. The SeriTek/1EN2 delivers two state-of-the-art hot swappable hard drive bays which support today's media-rich applications. With key-lockable, hot-swappable drive bays and internal cooling, the system is designed from the ground up to deliver the ultimate in Serial ATA power and performance. It also features a case constructed of aluminum, providing both strength and efficient heat dissipation, and two fully shielded Serial ATA cables for the most reliable data transfer at all times.

The SeriTek/1EN2 represents FirmTek’s latest storage upgrade solution for Macintosh and PC platforms. "Our engineering has remained at the forefront of ATA technology for the past several generations," said Chi Kim Stanford, Vice President of Business Development for FirmTek. "Our expertise has provided the foundation of many of the industry’s best selling products for Ultra ATA/33/66/100/133 and now Serial ATA technology. We know that many knowledgeable users are aware of the role we have been playing, and we are well positioned to deliver this high performance external storage solution for their desktop."

The SeriTek/1EN2, combined with your choice of top-performance drives and a host adapter like the SeriTek/1SE2, can deliver data transfer rates of up to 150MBytes/sec or 1.5Gbits/sec per drive, easily supporting some of the most demanding applications like digital video creation & editing, computer animation, and digital photography. Its "hot swap" benefit allows users to remove and replace drives from either bay at any time, without powering down the computer. This allows for maximum flexibility and provides fast recovery with RAID-protected volumes.

SeriTek/1EN2 Key Features and Benefits

• Attractive, durable design will impress in any workspace
• Power and activity LEDs for each hard drive
• Easy to set up: Only 3 steps to integrate each hard drive
• Easy to operate: Simply unlock and move latch to add or remove drives
• Easy to transport: Compact, portable, lightweight
• Brushed aluminum body for maximum durability and heat dissipation
• Two lockable drive bays for maximum security
• Hot-swappable, plug-and-play flexibility in switching drives
• Unprecedented system performance with data transfer rates of up to 150MBytes/sec or 1.5Gbits/sec per drive (may vary with adapters and drives)
• Designed as a native Serial ATA solution; no Parallel ATA to Serial ATA signal converters that might impact performance and reliability
• All connectors and cables are designed to minimize electrostatic discharge and electromagnetic emissions, providing the most secure environment for your data
• Compatible with all Power PC Macintosh and Windows computers equipped with external shielded Serial ATA ports, native or via PCI expansion cards
• Supports Mac OS 8.X, 9.X, and OS X version 10.1.5 or later and Windows 98/98SE/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003
• Ideal for multimedia-intensive applications: audio/video capture and editing, graphics manipulation and high-end digital publishing
• Delivers top performance for all Power Macintosh and Windows computers, especially for Macintosh G5 users who are limited to two internal drive bays
• Includes two fully shielded external Serial ATA cables and power adapter

Pricing and Availability

FirmTek's SeriTek/1EN2 Serial ATA enclosure is available now for the estimated retail price of USD$169.95 (SATA-1EN2). A model bundled with FirmTek’s SeriTek/1SE2 PCI adapter is also available for USD$259.95 (SATA-1SEN2). For more information or to find out how to purchase FirmTek products, please email sales@firmtek.com or visit FirmTek's website at www.firmtek.com.

About FirmTek

Headquartered in Silicon Valley and founded in 1998 by former Apple engineers, FirmTek is the leading hardware and firmware research and development company focusing on Macintosh ATA storage technologies. The company takes pride in developing the most reliable and compatible high performance enhancement solutions, offered through FirmTek's OEM partners and worldwide distribution channels. For information FirmTek’s products and operations, visit FirmTek's website at www.firmtek.com or email info@firmtek.com.