Tosco chooses DRMS as their Disaster Recovery solution

August 1999

MAYNARD, MA, August 1999 - Stratus Computer, Inc. announced today that Tosco Corporation has selected the Stratus Continuum® continuously available computing platform to handle the more than 650,000 debit and credit card transactions that Tosco processes daily at its Circle K convenience stores and "76" gas stations. As consumers' use of electronic payment methods continues to grow rapidly, Tosco's requirement for continuous uptime of this mission-critical application ensures both superior customer service and sustained sales growth.

"If our payment authorization system is down for just a half hour, we can lose over a quarter-million dollars in sales and upset 30,000 customers in the process," said Andy Orrock, Manager of IT infrastructure at Tosco. "If that isn't mission-critical, I don't know what is. A high-availability cluster solution simply is not adequate. Stratus, with its established track record of providing continuously available, fault-tolerant computer systems, was the clear choice. Our Continuum system's performance has been tremendous - we have yet to experience one second of planned or unplanned downtime."

Tosco Corporation is one of the largest independent oil refiners and marketers of petroleum products in the United States, with current annualized revenues of over $12 billion. Tosco's retail division, based in Tempe, Arizona, is one of the nation's largest operators of company-controlled convenience stores and gas stations. The company's IT staff manages a network that allows customers to purchase convenience store goods from its Circle K stores nationwide, and gas from Tosco's "76" gas stations on the West Coast.

Tosco's solution consists of the Stratus Continuum computer running ON/2(R) for EFT from S2 Systems, Inc., a leading supplier of electronic transaction processing software systems. ON/2 for EFT is a software solution of choice for electronic retail computing environments, and is specially designed for deployment on the Stratus Continuum. "Tosco's implementation validates our long-standing collaboration with Stratus to meet the needs of customers whose businesses depend on mission-critical transactions," said Ivan Koon, president of S2 Systems, Inc.

Tosco has implemented Stratus Continuum systems in Tempe, Arizona, and at a backup site in San Francisco. Because of the mission-critical nature of Tosco's environment, the company established the back-up site for disaster recovery purposes, and uses software from SoftMark to mirror critical transaction logs in real-time. SoftMark worked closely with Stratus to ensure their systems operated in concert to provide the highest levels of service for Tosco. SoftMark's solutions are exclusively distributed and supported in the U.S. by Application Resources, Inc. from Lynbrook, New York.

"Because we're located across the U.S., we experience peak sales periods all day long," said Orrock. "We simply cannot tolerate any downtime, planned or unplanned."

The Stratus Continuum delivers the highest level of platform availability the industry has to offer. It ensures maximum uptime for mission-critical transaction processing and no system downtime. Stratus systems enable remote server management through remote diagnostics, automatic 'phone home' service capabilities, and the ability for users to easily replace or upgrade system components online without experiencing any downtime or degradation in performance.

"We are very pleased that Tosco has selected Stratus to guarantee 24x7 operations," said Steve Kiely, Stratus President and Chief Executive Officer. "Millions of customers nationwide have come to rely on Tosco as their premier supplier of convenience store goods and gasoline. With Stratus, Tosco is equipped to deliver consistently excellent and ready service to its customers on the East Coast, West Coast, and everywhere in between."

About Stratus Computer Stratus developed the industry-leading Continuum system and offers the world's most proven range of continuously available computer platforms, application solutions and professional services for mission?critical business operations. Stratus has more than 700 customers worldwide in markets such as the financial services, retail, travel, and electronic commerce markets. For more information about Stratus Computer, please visit the Stratus web site at www.stratus.com.

If you are interested in additional information on Stratus Computer, SoftMark and Application Resources, Inc. please visit the Stratus home page at http://www.stratus.com and SoftMark at http://www.softmark.com