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Cartridges Meet Increased Storage Requirements of Small & Mid-sized Businesses
SYDNEY, Aust. (Nov. 17, 2003)— Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN),
a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today announced
the availability of Imation SLR140 tape cartridges for use in Tandberg
Data’s SLR140 tape drives. The new SLR140 system offers the largest
capacity and fastest speed of any SLRTM (Scalable Linear Recording)
drive and tape cartridge on the market today.
"Data loss can impact a company significantly, as data lost due
to downtime can drastically influence a company's long-term success.
And for small and mid-sized companies, this could mean the difference
between having a business and having to shut down," said Jeffrey
Brown, Technical Manager Imation ANZ. "The SLR140 system combines
the scalability and reliability of the proven SLR format to provide
enhanced performance and capacity for the small and mid-sized business
who needs to better manage vital assets such as customer records, financial
data, and inventory in electronic files."
The new SLR140 system features 140GB of compressed (70GB native) capacity,
and 12MB per second (6MB per second native) compressed transfer rate.
The SLR140 tape system also features a six-channel Thin Film Magneto
Resistive Head (TF/MR) that writes four tracks simultaneously, and includes
features such as data striping and Error Correction Code (ECC) blocks
over the four tracks, resulting in improved error correction and restoration
of data when errors occur.
The SLR140 cartridge is designed to provide the highest capacity and
transfer rate available in the SLR technology line using the SLR140
drive. As with previous generation SLR tape drives, the SLR140 drive
features a 5.25-inch half-height form factor to ensure easy integration
and scalability and it will also have backward read/write capabilities
with SLR100, SLR75 and SLR60 (SLR50, SLR40 and SLR7 read only) cartridges.
SLR technology was developed in partnership by Tandberg Data and Imation
for the fast-growing small and medium business server market to meet
their need for affordable, high-performance data storage.
"The new SLR140 drive and tape cartridges, combined with its proven
high reliability and backward compatibility with previous generations
of SLR tape drives, provides companies with the added capacity and faster
transfer rates they require to meet the challenge of managing today's
data growth," said Jack Robinson, director, strategic OEM sales
and business development, Tandberg Data.
SLR cartridges are based on proven linear technology. Large increases
in recording speed and capacity are made possible by using multiple
write and read channels in parallel for data recording. For supreme
data integrity, SLR technology utilizes a pre-recorded servo-track on
the tape for precise data reading/writing.
Imation SLR tape cartridges are based on MP (metal particulate) technology.
At its research facilities located in Oakdale, Minn., Imation continues
to advance the development of MP media capacity and read/write speeds.
Imation recently announced it would invest up to $49 million over two
years to develop advanced media coating capabilities at its Weatherford,
Okla. plant. The expansion is expected to allow Imation to advance its
MP manufacturing competencies across multiple formats, including SLR,
for next generation data storage tape products.
Imation branded SLR140 tape cartridges will be available for sale to
Imation’s distributors in November 2003. For more information,
visit www.imation.com/slr.
Fifty Years of Manufacturing Excellence
From its origins as 3M's Data Storage Division to the introduction of
the first data storage tape in 1953, Imation has been a worldwide leader
in removable data storage for more than 50 years. Since its establishment,
the company has invested more than $600 million in research and development
and capital in its data storage removable media business, including
the $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 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 September 2003, Imation employed approximately 2,800 people worldwide.
Revenues from outside the U.S. contribute approximately 53 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.
SLR (Scalable Linear Recording) is a trademark of Tandberg Data. Imation
is a trademark of Imation Corp.
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 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 introduce new offerings in a timely manner either independently or
in association with OEMs or other third parties, its ability to achieve
the expected benefits in a timely manner from the Moser Baer relationship,
including the Global Data Media joint venture, the competitive pricing
environment, foreign currency fluctuations, the outcome of litigation,
its ability to secure adequate supply of certain high demand products,
the ready availability and price of energy, the market acceptance of
newly introduced product and service 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.