IRVINE, CA—January 25, 2012—Sonnet Technologies today announced that its Qio™ E3 professional SxS™ media reader is now shipping and available for purchase. As the latest member of the Sonnet Qio series of professional universal media reader/writers, the Qio E3 offers a cost-effective, high-speed alternative to stand-alone card readers for videographers and studios alike. The E3 is the first 3-slot SxS memory card reader available and includes an integrated 2-port 6 Gb/s eSATA interface for connecting external storage systems, and doubles as a bus expansion system for ExpressCard®/34 adapter cards.

Sonnet’s Qio E3 provides users with the ability to transfer data concurrently from three SxS memory cards for Sony® XDCAM EX™ professional HD camcorders, thereby dramatically increasing efficiency. Users can copy files between any cards, attached storage, and the computer with aggregate bandwidth of up to 400 MB/sec, with an aggregate ingest speed for three SxS cards of 300 MB/s. Designed both for in-studio and on-location use, the E3 features a rugged, compact case with the same 15-cm (5.9-inches) by 16-cm (6.2-inches) footprint as the original Qio, but with a thinner profile.

Two eSATA connectors on the back of Qio E3 enable the user to connect two Sonnet Fusion™ F2QR or F3 portable 2-drive hardware RAID SATA storage systems, or other SATA storage. These fast SATA connections speed card ingest when SATA is not otherwise available on a laptop.

The Qio E3’s slots also support most PCI Express®-based Sonnet professional ExpressCard/34 adapter cards and most adapters from other manufacturers. Supported Sonnet cards range from CompactFlash™ and SDXC™ UHS-I card readers to FireWire® 800 adapters. The Qio E3 also supports ExpressCard adapters supplied with specialty devices such as the AJA® io Express.

“The Qio E3 is ideal for our customers who do not require the variety of slots included in the original Qio – giving them the multiple SxS slots they need in their workflow,” said Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet Technologies. “The E3 is ideal for studios that utilize Sony XDCAM EX™ or ARRI ALEXA Digital Cameras – providing incredibly fast ingest speeds for increased efficiency.”

Compatible with Mac OS® X v10.6.8+ (including Lion®), Microsoft® Windows® 7, Vista®, and Server 2008, the Qio E3 is now available at a suggested retail price of $599 with either an internal PCIe 2.0 interface card or an ExpressCard/34 interface card. More information on Qio E3 is available at www.sonnettech.com/product/qioe3.html.

More information on Sonnet and its products is available at www.sonnettech.com.

About Sonnet Technologies
Sonnet Technologies Inc. is a leader in providing storage systems and media readers for professional users of Macintosh®, Windows®, and UNIX® systems in the film, video, and broadcast industries. The company's product line features a range of high-performance, cost-effective, and reliable desktop and rackmount RAID storage solutions ranging from two- and four-drive RAID units, to 8- and 16-drive solutions with advanced RAID controllers, to 16-drive, 16-port, 8Gb Fibre Channel shared storage systems that are expandable to 384 TB. Celebrating 25 years in business, Sonnet has pioneered and brought to market numerous innovative solutions that enhance the performance and connectivity of Macintosh, Windows, and other industry-standard computers. More information is available at www.sonnettech.com. Qio is a trademark of Sonnet Technologies, Inc.

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