Media please
contact:
Chris Romoser, Iomega Corporation,
(858) 314-7148 romoser@iomega.com
Analyst/Investors, please
contact:
Barry Zwarenstein, Iomega Corporation,
(858) 314-7190
For Immediate Release
Iomega Announces the Next Revolution
in Storage: The Iomega REV System
SAN DIEGO,
November 13, 2003 - Iomega Corporation (NYSE:
IOM), a global leader in data storage, today announced
that the first product based on its RRD technology,
the new Iomega® REV™ 35GB/90GB (native/compressed)*
system, is on schedule for an expected product launch
in March of 2004.
Next week, Iomega will display working
prototypes of Iomega REV drives in a variety of applications
during Comdex Las Vegas 2003, November 17-19, in its
meeting space at the Venetian Hotel.
With price and performance advantages over traditional
tape backup systems, the soon-to-be released Iomega
REV system is designed for state-of-the-art backup
and high capacity portable storage for small and medium-sized
businesses and enterprise workgroups. The Iomega REV
drive also marks the next great advance in desktop
portable storage, giving businesses that use large
files—and everyday computer enthusiasts—the
performance of an external hard drive and the infinite
storage expandability of Iomega’s highest-capacity
removable storage system.
“The Iomega REV drive is revolutionary, combining
the high speed, reliability and ease of use of hard
drive technology with the advantages of removability
and low cost of tape,” said Werner Heid, president
and CEO, Iomega Corporation. “When our customers
see how the price and performance advantages of the
Iomega REV system transform their existing network
and desktop backup systems, they won’t go back
to using high-maintenance tape drives, fragile tape
backup media, or other removable storage options.”
Iomega believes that the REV disk will be the smallest
portable storage disk in the marketplace to hold 35GB
of data.
Revolutionary Hard Drive-Based Tape Alternative
The Iomega REV drive takes hard drive technology to
a new level, using patent-pending Iomega intellectual
property to deliver true hard drive performance in
a removable disk. Iomega REV disks will have a 35GB
native capacity, and will hold 90GB compressed using
the bundled Iomega Automatic Backup Pro software.
Compared to traditional tape systems, Iomega REV drives
and disks are faster, more durable, easier to maintain
and provide random access. Furthermore, with an anticipated
price below $400, the high-performance Iomega REV drive
will cost significantly less than most tape alternatives,
including DDS, DAT-72, VXA®, AIT-1, DLT® and
DLT VS80.
The Iomega REV system will appear to a computer’s
operating system as a regular drive letter, making
it seamlessly compatible with most popular backup and
disaster recovery software.
Superior Performance
Iomega REV disks, expected to cost approximately $49
each, are smaller than a deck of playing cards, more
durable than tape, and have an expected native maximum
transfer rate of 22 MB/sec. Based on average data
rates, a 20GB file that takes more than an hour to
backup using DDS tape will take about 20 minutes
with REV technology. And, because the Iomega REV
drive is a random-access storage device, it will
allow users to copy or restore individual files in
seconds, many times faster than is possible with
tape.
The Iomega REV system is designed for superior reliability
compared to tape. To provide maximum durability, the
unique REV design keeps the sensitive read/write heads
and electronics sealed in the REV drive where shock
and vibration are not an issue – the removable
data cartridge holds only the rotating disk and spindle
motor. REV disks are rated for over one million rewrites
versus thousands for tape. Reliability is further enhanced
by the patent-pending air filtration system, creating
a virtual “clean room” environment inside
the removable disk. With an ultra-quiet fluid dynamic
bearing motor, advanced two-stage error correction
circuitry, and automatic internal head cleaning, the
Iomega REV disk is expected to provide comparable reliability
to today’s sealed hard drives in a more convenient
and versatile removable form factor.
Unlimited Storage Capacity
Perhaps the biggest benefit of an Iomega REV drive
will be its virtually unlimited storage expandability.
Iomega REV drives and their cost-effective 35GB/90GB
(native/compressed) disks will be ideal in data-intensive
settings that must maintain large archives, such as
legal and financial services, medical imaging and medical
records archiving, professional digital video production,
video surveillance systems, and high-performance workstation
applications such as graphic arts, software or gaming
development.
Zero Down-Time and No-Touch Backup
The Iomega REV drive will also provide desktop users
a superior backup solution – removable, expandable
and versatile. Iomega REV drives will include a unique “Boot
and Run™” feature that provides home
and business users with prompt disaster recovery.
If their primary hard drive fails, users can simply “Boot
and Run™” directly from an Iomega REV
drive—in effect, giving them a spare hard disk
for their computer, with all the files, applications
and functionality of their primary internal hard
drive, until the failed hard drive can be replaced.
A further layer of data protection will be provided
by Iomega’s Automatic Backup Pro software, the
next-generation version of Iomega Automatic Backup
software, a recent PC Magazine Editor’s Choice
winner for real-time backup. Iomega Automatic Backup
Pro software provides continuous real-time backup to
any drive letter; the user never has to remember to
push a button or run a software application. Once configured,
the “no-touch” software will automatically
save specified files (including multiple revisions),
keep multiple backup sets on different destination
drives, exclude user-selected files by file type, perform
pre-scheduled backups, and even cache backups temporarily
if the destination drive is not available. Iomega Automatic
Backup Pro software also includes powerful professional-level
features such as open-file backup, complete system
imaging and restoration, compression and encryption,
and support for Windows® server operating systems.
Pricing and
Availability
The Iomega REV drive is expected to debut in March
of 2004 in USB 2.0 external and ATAPI internal configurations.
Iomega REV autoloaders, which will support multiple
disks per drive unit, as well as external bus-powered
FireWire® and internal SCSI and SATA models, are
currently in the design stage for planned introduction
in the second half of 2004. Major OEMs are currently
testing RRD technology evaluation units for potential
OEM products in the second half of 2004. Final pricing
for the REV drive will be announced at product launch.
About Iomega
Iomega Corporation provides
easy-to-use, high value storage solutions to help
people
protect, secure, capture and share their valuable digital
information. Iomega's award-winning storage products
include the popular Zip®
100MB, 250MB and 750MB drives, high-performance
Iomega
HDD External Hard Drives in portable, desktop
and network configurations, Iomega
Mini USB Drives, Iomega
external CD-RW drives, Iomega DVD drives and the
Iomega
Floppy USB-Powered Drive. Iomega simplifies data
protection and sharing at home and in the workplace
with Iomega
Automatic Backup software, Iomega
Sync software, HotBurn®
CD-recording software, and Active
Disk technology. For networks, Iomega
NAS servers offer capacities of 160GB to 2TB.
For unlimited capacity and anytime, anywhere access,
Iomega offers iStorage™ secure online storage.
Iomega also offers businesses and consumers a comprehensive
data
recovery services solution for recovering lost
data due to hardware failure, file corruption or
media damage.
The Company can be reached at 1-888-4-IOMEGA (888-446-6342),
or on the Web at www.iomega.com.
Note:
The statements contained in this release regarding
development, production and distribution of the Iomega
product, anticipated product pricing and availability,
expected product performance and specifications,
future applications for the new product, potential
auto loader products, the expectation that the product
will work with popular backup and disaster recovery
software, and all other statements that are not purely
historical, are forward looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. All such forward looking statements
are based upon information available to Iomega as
of the date hereof, and Iomega disclaims any intention
or obligation to update any such forward looking
statements. Actual results could differ materially
from current expectations. Factors that could cause
or contribute to such differences include, but are
not limited to, the successful completion of product
development and testing, market acceptance of, and
demand for, the Iomega product, any difficulties
encountered in ramping up production or other manufacturing
issues, including component availability and pricing,
co-development, production, and distribution issues,
product pricing and conformity to specifications,
dependence upon third party suppliers, competition,
intellectual property rights and other risks and
uncertainties identified in the reports filed from
time to time by Iomega with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including Iomega's Annual Report
on Form 10 K for the year ended December 31, 2002,
and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
###
*Compressed capacity assuming 2.6:1 data compression
with “high” compression on Iomega Automatic Backup software.
This capacity may vary since compression is data and
software dependent. 1 GB equals 1 billion bytes.
Copyright© 2003 Iomega Corporation. All rights
reserved. Iomega, REV, Zip, Active Disk, iStorage and HotBurn are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Iomega Corporation in the United
States and/or other countries. Certain other product names, brand names
and company names may be trademarks or designations of their respective
owners. |