At Digi-Data, repetition is a good thing.

The company, whose founder died six years ago, is finding a new niche for itself in technology focusing on large-capacity digital storage equipment called Redundant Array of Independent Disks, or RAID systems.

After four years of developing a larger and faster RAID system -- one that its executives hope will help the company expand and find its share of the $20 billion global digital storage market -- Digi-Data is ready to ship its systems to partners for testing.

And with a recent grant from the state to advertise overseas, Digi-Data President Tomlinson G. Rauscher said he is hopeful the company will continue to expand its international customer base, as well.

The $5,000 grant has helped the company demonstrate its new product at a European trade show and expand its marketing base there.

"In the past, our business has been probably 25 to 30 percent overseas," Rauscher said. "That's a very significant market for us."

Because most of Digi-Data's clients are original-equipment manufacturers who place the product in a larger package that they sell to their clients and do not disclose their suppliers, Rauscher said one of the biggest hurdles his company faces is name recognition in the broader marketplace.

But Robert Gray, a research director of storage systems at Massachusetts-based International Data Corp., said the company should fare well, even in the crowded storage market, because of its close relationship to its clients.

"Their advantage is they're selling mostly to volume purchasers," Gray said. "They work very closely and can be very responsive to their customers. By having a tight relationship with a customer, they can match their customer's need."

RAID systems are large storage systems that spread saved digital information across several compact disks, creating redundancy. The larger-capacity systems allow thousands of users to access the system at once and save or recall data. Because the information is stored in more than one place, RAID systems can withstand several system failures at once and retain the information with quick access.

Digi-Data's new product, Storage On Redundant Modules, or STORM, is a single system -- not smaller, linked systems -- that can store between one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) and 1,000 terabytes. According to Rauscher, it can handle more traffic and survive more system failures than other products on the market. The systems cost between $20,000 and several hundred thousand dollars, he said.

The company, which has about 15 employees, has revenue of "a few million" a year, Rauscher said. He said he expects STORM will open doors for business with larger original-equipment manufacturers, such as Sun Microsystems, and that could bring revenue of up to $50 million within a few years.

"This new product is really a step-function increase over our previous products and anything on the market," he said. "Clearly, the challenge we have ahead is making our product and company known in the industry. That's why we were so pleased to get a grant from Maryland."

Gray said he thinks the company has a good chance at growing significantly.

"They can just get a little bit [of the $20 billion market] and be pretty nice," he said. "There are always new opportunities for this kind of product."