US tape storage manufacturer Exabyte Corp has reported a second quarter net loss of $16.87m on revenue that was down 30% at $48.5m. This compared to a net profit in the second quarter last year of $151,000. For the first half, the net loss was $20.37m on revenue that was down 26% at $111.1m, compared to a first half net profit of $2.1m in 1998. At the pre-tax level, the loss was $16.6m in the second quarter, compared to a pre-tax profit of $228,000 in the same period last year. For the first half, the pre-tax loss was $21.98m, compared to a pre-tax profit of $3.3m in the same period of 1998.
The figures indicate that Exabyte’s woes continued in the second half, with sales declining in comparison with a second half 1998 which was already lower than the previous year. The company attributed this downturn to the fact that a number of customers over-ordered media when it was supply constrained, resulting in excess inventory.
The figures nonetheless show the company’s ongoing problems in competing with Quantum Corp’s DLT technology. Boulder, Colorado-based Exabyte is pinning its hopes on the combined offering of the new version of its Mammoth tape drive, due out later this year, and its recently launched NetStorM management package for a storage network to improve its performance (CI No 3,695).
