Imation first media manufacturer to immediately ship Ultrium Generation 3 Tape Cartridges worldwide
Dubai, 16 November 2004: Imation has received approval from the LTO (Linear Tape-Open) Program's three technology provider companies (TPCs) -- Certance, HP and IBM Corporation, to manufacture and sell LTO Ultrium Generation 3 tape cartridges, and announced it is the first media manufacturer to ship Ultrium Generation 3 tape cartridges to customers worldwide. This first-to-sell position is a result of Imation's new Tera ?ngstrom technology, a proprietary coating formulation and process that is used to manufacture new high capacity media that provides customers with the highest levels of durability and reliability.
"We are happy to be the first manufacturer globally to ship LTO Ultrium 3 cartridges to our customers," said Peter-Paul van Heesewijk, European Business Manager Magnetic products. "Our R&D and manufacturing teams, have done a great job. The investments we've made in the Imation proprietary Tera Ǻngstrom technology and our new tape manufacturing facility in Weatherford, Oklahoma, are important cornerstones within our strategy to reduce the go-to-market cycles for new or improved storage technologies."
Imation's approval from Certance, HP and IBM to manufacture and sell LTO Ultrium Generation 3 tape cartridges and its position as the first company to ship LTO Generation 3 tape cartridges to customers is a logical progression in a series of firsts: Imation was the first partner to announce it applied for the LTO Ultrium Generation 3 license. Imation was the first to receive LTO Ultrium Generation 3 licensing from the LTO consortium. Imation was first to submit an initial sample lot to Measurement Analysis Corporation (MAC), an independent testing board for compliance verification testing.
"This is an important milestone for Imation," said Alvaro Valdez, Regional Manager, Imation Middle East & East Africa. "Imation's LTO Ultrium Generation 3 tape cartridges will offer twice the storage capacity of Generation 2 tape cartridges, with an increase to 800GB capacity compressed (using a 2:1 compression) and transfer rates of up to 160MB/second compressed (2:1 compression)."
Imation LTO Ultrium Generation 3 tape cartridges also feature innovative and patented technologies that make Imation's cartridge more robust than competitive offerings, including a corner snap, patented by Imation, which improves cartridge strength by keeping the leader pin in place and the cartridge tightly closed in the event of rough handling; a patented three-piece tape spool that distributes stress more evenly over the tape surface for better performance and longer archival life; and finally, an increase in tape durability enabled by Imation's dual layer media using next-generation metal particulate (MP3) media formulation.
In addition, Imation's proprietary servo-writing process optimizes tape tracking and helps ensure accurate read/write operations -- enabling best-in-class Position Error Signal (PES) performance to minimize servo off track errors and improve overall transfer rates.
"We understand the demands on companies today for greater tape capacity and increased reliability to support backup and restore applications, disaster recovery and data archiving. The new coating formulation and processes found within our Tera ?ngstrom technology demonstrate our commitment to help companies meet these demands by providing next-generation tape products with the most durability and highest reliability," added George Purrio, Technical Manager Imation Europe.
Imation has started to ship products to customers worldwide. European customers (including the Middle East) will receive first shipments by end of the year.
-Ends-
About Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Technology
LTO technology is a powerful, scaleable, adaptable open tape format created by technology providers Certance, HP, and IBM Corporation to help meet the growing demands of data protection in the midrange to enterprise-class server environments. This ultra-high capacity generation of tape storage products is designed to deliver outstanding performance, capacity and reliability combining the advantages of linear multi-channel, bi-directional formats with enhancements in servo technology, data compression, track layout, and error correction.
The LTO Ultrium format has a well-defined roadmap for growth and scalability -- a roadmap that projects a doubling of speed and capacity with each new generation. Independent compliance verification is vital to meet the free-interchange objectives that are at the core of the LTO Program. Ultrium tape mechanism and tape cartridge interchange specifications are available on a licensee basis.
About Imation's Tera Ǻngstrom Technology
Imation's Tera ?ngstrom technology is based on three proprietary techniques:
Impingement process: This involves the use of high-pressure (>10,000 psi) impingement jets that force particles against each other to blast apart the magnetic clusters and separates them into nanomagnetic elements to enable magnetic layer pigment uniformity -- resulting in smaller particle size and more uniform distribution.
Quiescent drying process: This process involves a delicate drying environment that utilizes low air velocity and magnetic coils for extremely precise particle orientation -- virtually eliminating coating disturbances and orienting the particles precisely to allow for maximum bit density and storage capacity.
In-line calendering process: This process uses a series of rollers with an ultra-smooth finish that compress the tape surface to achieve surface smoothness measured in angstrom units. This surface smoothness and uniformity allows for the increased bit and track density needed to manufacture higher capacity cartridges.
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 nearly 300 patents in the US alone, Imation continues to pioneer today's proven magnetic and optical media technologies. As of March 31st 2004, Imation employed approximately 2,800 people worldwide. Revenues from outside the U.S. contribute approximately 60 percent of total sales.
Imation Corp. is located in Oakdale, Minnesota, USA, the European Headquarters is based in Schiphol, near Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Imation Middle East is based in Jebel Ali, UAE.
Imation European Pressroom On-line:
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Imation General Information:
More information about Imation is available at www.imation.ae or via www.imation.com
Local press contact:
Imation Middle East:
Yaser Shan,
Tel: +971 4 8818008,
E-mail: yshan@imation.ae
Market Buzz International:
Cyrus Roche,
Tel: +971 4 3914873,
E-mail: cyrus@themarketbuzz.net
© Press Release 2004
