Leading manufacturer and supplier of magnetic and optical removable data storage media expands portfolio; consumers and professional users will benefit from nearly doubled capacity

Dubai, 16 August 2004: Imation, one of the world's leaders for removable storage solutions, is expanding its broad portfolio of optical disks with the new DVD+R DL (DL = Double Layer), providing up to 8.5GB of storage. This new player in the DVD field now expands the DVD family to six members: DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW and now DVD+R DL.

Alvaro Valdez, Regional Manager, Imation MEEA (Middle East and East Africa), commented, "Only two or three years ago, virtually nobody would have expected that the storage capacity of 4.7GB (a standard DVD's offer) wouldn't be sufficient - at least not within a consumer environment. But with video and high-resolution still photography moving from analogue into digital, the number of applications demanding higher capacities has grown."

DVD+R DL will enable these users to record four hours of DVD-quality video or 16 hours of VHS-quality video. PC users will now be able to archive up to 8.5GB of computer files on a single disc, which almost doubles the storage capacity compared with 4.7GB for the single-layer DVD+R discs currently available. The new technologies writes all data and information from one side to both layers. The user doesn't need to flip the disc to achieve full capacity.

The double-layer DVD+R system uses two thin embedded organic dye films for data storage separated by a spacer layer, which is about 55 m thick. Heating with a focused laser beam irreversibly modifies the physical and chemical structure of each layer such that the modified areas have different optical properties to those of their unmodified surroundings. This causes a variation in reflectivity as the disc rotates to provide a read-out signal as with commercially pressed read-only discs.

Pre-recorded DVD's, such ones people buy to watch videos, movies, concerts etc. at home, utilise nearly identical technologies. Pre-recorded DVD's exactly offer up to 4 hours digital movies in excellent quality, which expressed in data is equivalent to 8.5 GB.

According to Yaser Shan, Marketing Manager, Imation Middle East & East Africa, "the new media is expected to be available in the Middle East through Imation's distribution channel from September once the DL drives are available in this market".

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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 centres 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.

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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