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Patented Features of Imation's Black Watch Ultrium 2 Tape Cartridges Provide One of the Industry's Most Robust Cartridges
OAKDALE, Minn. (Feb. 14, 2003)— Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today announced it has passed the rigorous compliance verification testing process for the LTO (Linear-Tape-Open) Ultrium Generation 2 format, set forth by the three technology provider companies (TPCs) — IBM Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company and Seagate Removable Storage Solutions.
Imation's Black Watch™ LTO Ultrium Generation 2 tape cartridges will feature an increased storage capacity of up to 400GB compressed (2:1 compression), 200GB native and up to 80MB per second transfer speeds (2:1 compression), 40MB per second native. Completion of the compliance process ensures that Imation's Black Watch Ultrium Generation 2 tape cartridges are compatible with all brands of Ultrium 2 drives and tape automation systems.
"Imation's successful completion of the LTO Ultrium Generation 2 compliance testing combined with the success of our LTO Ultrium Generation 1 tape cartridges confirms Imation's commitment to being a leading supplier of the industry's most robust Ultrium tape cartridges," said Frank Russomanno, president, Imation Data Storage and Information Management. "Based on Imation's more than 50 years of leadership in manufacturing tape, we will continue to deliver a full line of storage solutions for all major midrange server platforms, in addition to our comprehensive offering of data storage products for business and consumer needs."
Innovative Technologies, Increased Durability
Imation Black Watch Ultrium Generation 2 tape cartridges will include innovative and patented technologies that make Imation's cartridge one of the most durable Ultrium 2 cartridges available, including:
- Imation's patented corner snap improves cartridge strength by keeping the leader pin in place and the cartridge tightly closed in the event of mishandling or shipping disruption — preventing error-causing debris from entering the cartridge.
- Imation's proprietary method of preparing and servo writing the tape enables robust state-of-the-art tracking performance — providing customers stronger assurance of their data security.
- Imation Black Watch Ultrium tape cartridges are manufactured with a patented three-piece tape spool that delivers improved strength to the hub to distribute stress more evenly over the tape — guiding the tape by keeping it flat, protecting data across the entire tape.
- World-class construction and durability enabled by superior signal to noise ratio of patented Imation dual layer media using advanced MP particulates.
From its origins as 3M's Data Storage Division to today, Imation has been a worldwide leader in removable data storage for more than 50 years, since the introduction of the first data storage tape in 1953. The company has invested more than $500 million in research and development and capital in its data storage removable media business, and recently announced a $49 million investment in its Weatherford, Okla, facility to develop advanced media coating capabilities. These investments, combined with Imation's strong partner relationships, keep Imation at the forefront of developing higher capacity and higher performance storage media.
About Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Technology
LTO technology, a powerful, open tape architecture, continues to set the stage for a new generation of tape storage products that is expected to surpass current tape capacity and performance benchmarks, while maintaining the highest data integrity. The LTO Ultrium format has a well-defined four-generation roadmap for growth and scalability, and offers significant data integrity improvements over current tape storage formats.
For additional information on LTO Ultrium technology, visit the Ultrium Web site at http://www.ultrium.com.
About Imation
Imation Corp. is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of magnetic and optical removable data storage media. With one of the broadest product lines in the industry—spanning from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes of capacity in each piece of media, Imation serves customers in more than 60 countries, in both business and consumer markets. From large data centers to distributed networks, Imation's tape cartridges are used in data processing, security, business continuity, backup and archiving applications. Customer needs for reliability, convenience and portability to store and manage business data, photos, video, images and music on professional and home desktops and increasingly in consumer electronics devices drive demand for Imation's optical and diskette products. With more than 300 technology scientists and more than 300 data storage patents in the U.S. alone, Imation continues to pioneer today's proven magnetic and optical media technologies.
As of December 2002, Imation employed approximately 2,800 people worldwide. Revenues from outside the U.S. contribute approximately 49 percent of total sales. Additional information about Imation is available on the company's website at www.imation.com, or by calling 1.888.466.3456.
Imation, the Imation logo, and Black Watch are trademarks of Imation Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Certain information contained in this press release, which does not relate to historical financial information, including the Business Outlook, may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results in the future to differ materially from its historical results and those presently anticipated or projected. Among these factors are continuing uncertainty in global economic and political conditions that make it particularly difficult to predict product demand, the Company's ability to meet its cost reduction and revenue growth targets, its ability to implement its restructuring programs for the estimated costs on a timely basis and to achieve the projected benefits, its ability to introduce new offerings in a timely manner either independently or in association with OEMs or other third parties, the competitive pricing environment, foreign currency fluctuations, the outcome of litigation, the ability of Imation to secure adequate supply of raw materials and certain high demand products, the ready availability and price of energy, the market acceptance of newly introduced offerings, the rate of decline for certain existing products as well as various factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.