1
EXHIBIT 99.1
[DISC LOGO]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Investor Relations Contact: Company Contact:
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates DISC, Inc.
John Nesbett LORETTA SHOWS
212-838-3777 x 6631 408-934-7000
jgn@lhai.com lshows@disc-storage.com
WWW.DISC-STORAGE.COM
DISC, INC. ACQUIRES NSM STORAGE GMBH
COMBINED COMPANIES WILL DELIVER SOLUTIONS THAT ADD STORAGE CAPACITY TO NETWORKS
FOR A FRACTION OF THE TOTAL COST OF RAID
MILPITAS, CA (JULY 9, 2001) -- DISC, INC. (NASDAQ Symbol: DCSR), a manufacturer
of automated solutions for enterprise storage, today announced it has signed a
definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of NSM Storage
GmbH, a manufacturer of CD and DVD library systems.
Under the terms of the purchase agreement, DISC will acquire all of the
outstanding shares of NSM in exchange for up to 1.2 million shares of DISC
common stock. The formal closing of the acquisition will occur in approximately
four to six weeks, upon the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent set
forth in the purchase agreement. The acquisition will be accounted for as a
purchase. NSM will become a wholly owned subsidiary of DISC and will continue to
serve their existing markets from its existing facilities in Bingen, Germany.
This transaction aims to enhance a mutually held strategy of DISC and NSM to
deliver storage solutions for a fraction of the total cost of RAID and to
provide enterprise storage solutions for today's enterprise networks for less
than 2 cents per megabyte.
2
J. Richard Ellis will continue to serve as President and CEO of DISC. Wilfried
Beckmann, managing director of NSM, will remain managing director of NSM, and
will become a Vice-President of DISC.
The merger of DISC and NSM will give their combined customers a line of NearLine
storage products encompassing both the DVD-RAM and Magneto-Optical storage
technologies. Historically, NSM has focused on the CD and DVD library market and
DISC has focused on the larger capacity, high-end Magneto-Optical market. In
addition to an expanded product offering, the combined company will have
manufacturing, sales and customer service in the United States and the European
Community, the two geographic markets that account for 85% of all IT purchases
worldwide. NSM will continue to serve the market needs of the European
Community, and DISC will serve the needs of the North American market. As a
combined entity, NSM and DISC will also expand their existing relationships in
the international marketplace outside Europe and North America.
J. Richard Ellis, President and CEO of DISC stated, "By combining the two
companies, we have one of the rare occurrences where the whole is greater than
the sum of the parts. This acquisition allows us to broaden our technology
offering, increase our research and development resources, and increase our
revenue base. It also provides us with a local manufacturing and sales presence
in the European Community and expands our global sales channels. Additionally,
the combined product lines of NSM and DISC will give us a range of storage
solutions that can be tailored to satisfy the storage requirements of our
customers." Ellis continued, "NSM is the European market leader in CD and DVD
libraries and the technology and quality reputation that it has developed will
allow us to grow as leaders in both the United States and the European Community
as well as the rest of the world."
Wilfried Beckmann, Managing Director of NSM Storage GmbH, commented, "Through
our strategic partnership, DISC and NSM have developed a strong mutual respect
as innovators in the NearLine storage market. This merger will allow NSM to
offer high-end enterprise storage solutions and take advantage of the sales
presence that DISC has established in the United States." Beckmann
-2-
3
added, "The strength of NSM's brand name in Europe, its industry leading
research and development efforts, and the combined local presence of DISC and
NSM in both the European community and the United States set the stage for
accelerated growth."
ABOUT NSM STORAGE:
NSM Storage GmbH, founded in 1994 as a subsidiary of the Bingen company, NSM AG,
has played a leading role in the development, production and marketing of audio
jukeboxes for more than four decades. NSM Storage GmbH has benefited from its
parent company in the fields of robotics and control electronics. Today, NSM
Storage GmbH has more than 90,000 jukebox systems installed worldwide, making it
the leading company in this sector. In addition to subsidiaries in the United
States, the United Kingdom and France, the company also has authorized
distributors and service partners for sales of CD and DVD jukebox solutions and
local customer support in 40 countries.
ABOUT DISC:
Established in 1986, DISC, INC., a leading manufacturer of automated library
solutions, provides companies with storage devices that add capacity to networks
for a fraction of the cost of RAID. DISC storage solutions range in capacity
from 208 GB to 9.7TB and are designed for high performance and maximum
reliability. Headquartered in Milpitas, CA, DISC, INC. can be found on the World
Wide Web at www.disc-storage.com. Sales offices are located in Northern
California, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Washington DC and London and can be reached
by calling (800) 944-3472 or (408) 934-7000 or by e-mail at
sales@disc-storage.com.
###
DISC is a registered trademark. Any other product names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Statements made in this news release are forward looking statements that include
risks and uncertainties. These forward looking statements include statements
concerning DISC's product capabilities and leadership, the combined strength of
DISC and NSM, the range and capabilities of and potential markets for the
combined company's products and services, and the potential for rapid growth and
increasing market share. DISC's future operating results are uncertain and may
be affected by the following factors, among others: DISC's ability to obtain
additional financing which it anticipates will be required to continue to
finance its operations, rapid technological change and competitive developments,
the ability of DISC to successfully market its products, risks related to the
growth prospects of the markets that the DISC serves, DISC's dependence on
successfully developing, introducing and commercializing new products,
developing enhancements to existing products, the timing of product orders,
DISC's history of losses, the loss of customers or distributors and increased
competition and pricing pressure.
-3-
4
Further information on these and other factors is provided in DISC's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000. All forward-looking
statements are based on information available to DISC on the date hereof, and
DISC assumes no obligation to update such statements.
-4-