MILPITAS, CA -- Corp. (NYSE: DSS), a leading provider of data protection and network storage systems, today announced that Richard "Rick" Belluzzo has been named chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, effective Sept. 3, 2002. Belluzzo will succeed Michael Brown, who -- after 18 years at Quantum, including seven as CEO -- has decided to step down from day-to-day management but will continue to serve as chairman of Quantum's board of directors. Belluzzo has more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry, including over 20 years at Hewlett-Packard during which he managed and grew some of its largest, highest growth and most profitable businesses. As executive vice president and general manager of the Computer Products Organization, Belluzzo was responsible for all of Hewlett-Packard's computer systems and storage products, including peripherals, software and services. At the time, this business represented 80 percent of the company's revenues. Prior to heading the Computer Products Organization, Belluzzo was vice president of the Hardcopy Group, where he played a key role in building Hewlett-Packard's leadership position in printers, scanners and digital imaging. Before this, he led the Ink-Jet Products Group, increasing the Group's revenues from $700 million to $2 billion in less than two years. In addition to Belluzzo's long tenure at Hewlett-Packard, he also has served as chairman and CEO of Silicon Graphics and, most recently, held several executive management positions at Microsoft, including president and chief operating officer (COO). In that role, Belluzzo focused much of his energy on advancing Microsoft's capability to deliver software and services to enterprise customers. Before becoming president and COO, Belluzzo was group vice president of Microsoft's Consumer Group, where he led the effort to build a series of new consumer businesses, including MSN, X-Box, set-top boxes and mobility devices. "As Quantum has continued its transition to playing a broader role in data protection and network storage solutions, we have focused not only on expanding our portfolio of storage systems and services but also on further strengthening the expertise of our management team in these areas," said Brown. "Rick's appointment is the latest step in this transition. His experience in leading and growing software and storage businesses, working with multiple channels and solving customer problems will be of tremendous benefit to Quantum as we look to extend our industry leadership." "I'm very excited about joining Quantum and working to take advantage of the many long-term opportunities in data protection and network storage," said Belluzzo. "With leading positions in tape drives, tape automation and network attached storage, and the progress it has made in building a storage solutions presence, Quantum has a very strong foundation from which to grow." Quantum is the worldwide leader in tape drive revenue, has the largest installed base of network attached storage (NAS) servers, and offers the broadest line of tape automation products. Over the past year, the company has invested in research and development to strengthen its existing product lines through improved price/performance, and to expand into new addressable markets, such as low-end tape automation, disk-based enhanced backup and mid-range NAS. These investments have resulted in the most aggressive series of product launches in Quantum's history and demonstrated Quantum's commitment to providing innovative, cost-effective solutions to customers from the desktop to the data center. As Quantum has broadened its product portfolio, it has also added greater depth to its management team. Last October, Larry Orecklin, a former senior vice president at IBM's Tivoli Systems with over 16 years of experience in marketing and business development, joined Quantum to lead the company's newly formed Storage Solutions Group. In addition, the company's two most recent appointments to its board of directors, Sandy Sanderson and Kevin Kennedy, bring significant experience in systems, services and software. Sanderson is a former executive at Oracle and Unisys, and Kennedy was a senior vice president at Cisco before assuming his current role as chief operating officer of Openwave Systems, a software and services company for communication service providers.