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 to Showcase 1.5 GB Digital Capture Technology-Based Products During International Consumer Electronics Show
SAN DIEGO,
January 7, 2004 -
Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM), a global leader in data storage, announced today
that its new Iomega® Digital Capture Technology (DCT), which enables future
consumer electronics products to use matchbook-sized 1.5 GB disks for storage,
will debut this week in prototype DCT-based products at the Consumer Electronics
Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The break-through technology will be shown at partner
booths on the tradeshow floor and will be demonstrated at Iomega's private meeting
space in the Venetian Hotel on January 8 and 9, 2004.
Iomega DCT technology will give consumer electronics
companies the ability to break new ground in go-anywhere
digital entertainment. The low-cost, high-capacity
portable disks are ideal for capturing, viewing, archiving,
sharing and managing digital audio and video files
and other data easily. Camcorders, PDAs, audio and
video players, televisions and personal video recorders
are among the target applications for the new storage
platform.
Iomega's DCT technology is now being evaluated by
original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original
design manufacturers. The first consumer electronics
products to incorporate Iomega DCT technology are planned
for introduction in the second half of 2004. In addition,
Iomega plans to introduce a DCT-based credit-card sized
PC Card drive, an external USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed USB) drive,
and an OEM drive.
DCT: Ideal Storage for Portable Electronic Devices
“The DCT storage solution is small, robust, energy
efficient and significantly more affordable than flash-based
solutions,” said Werner Heid, president & CEO,
Iomega Corporation. “DCT drives have a slim form factor
that can fit anywhere, and they have an ATA interface
that is easy to engineer into new devices. Iomega's
design goal with DCT is to make it easy and economical
for consumers to share inexpensive disks and move data
between popular entertainment devices and their PCs.”
DCT Demonstration
Products Working DCT prototype products
on display at Iomega’s meeting space during CES will
include a camcorder, PVR (personal video recorder),
MP3 player, portable video capture & playback device,
conventional TV with DCT compatibility, and external
USB drives for PCs, as well as a DCT-based PC Card
Drive for tablet PCs. Iomega DCT technology will
also be on display on the CES tradeshow floor at
the booths of Fujifilm (#11006), Texas Instruments
(#9011), and Hyun Won (#23088), as well as at the
Iomega space in the Microsoft Partner Pavilion.
Why DCT? Consumer Electronics and the Storage Dilemma
Each of the four major media types in use today—hard drives, tape, optical discs, and solid state memory—has limitations of cost, size, power usage, or durability. Worse, consumers typically need a different storage format for each device. For anyone who just wants to share data easily, the proliferation of incompatible formats is a storage dilemma that drives up costs, slows adoption rates, and frustrates users.
The DCT Solution
The DCT drive provides a simple alternative: a rugged, easy-to-use, and cost-effective drive that delivers true data portability among digital devices.
No other technology can boast as many consumer-friendly advantages as the DCT disk. At an estimated cost starting as low as $10 per disk in a multi-pack (final pricing to be announced at product launch), matchbook-sized 1.5 gigabyte DCT disks will combine the best features of flash memory--low power consumption and shock and vibration resistance—with the best features of removable hard drives—low cost per gigabyte and high data transfer rates.
With the 1.5 GB capacity of DCT disks, consumers will enjoy unprecedented freedom to transfer video clips, audio tracks, and photos from device to device; to store data permanently on rugged, low-cost media; to erase and reuse disks whenever they need to; and to manage their digital lives, taking workplace files, movies, music, and videogames wherever work or play carries them.
Key benefits of the DCT disk design:
- Durability. DCT disks have a metal shell that protects against data loss caused by scratches, dust, fingerprints, and accidental drops.
- Affordability.
DCT disks redefine affordability, driving the cost of removable storage to under
a penny per MB with a disk cost of approximately $10 per 1.5 GB disk (final
disk pricing to be announced at product launch).
- Portability.
DCT disks are matchbook sized and weigh less than half an ounce (9 grams), making
them a truly pocketable portable solution.
- Speed. DCT disks will have a sustained transfer rate of
up to 6.7 MB/sec.
- Efficiency. DCT drives use so little power
that they can be USB powered, providing for longer battery life in portable
devices compared to tape and hard drive alternatives.
- Capacity.
a single DCT disk will be able to hold about two hours of video (Windows Media
Player 9 format, 720x480 resolution, 24 frames per second, progressive scan),
complete with high-quality stereo soundtrack. That's more than twice the screen
resolution of today's best PDA devices, illustrating the tremendous potential
for innovation in upcoming consumer electronics products.
“We think the OEM opportunity for DCT is significant,” said Heid. “It can be the video storage platform for new camcorders and portable video devices and the data storage and data sharing platform for ultra-portable computers and portable music players. With a lower incremental cost of storage, a smaller form factor, and a more rugged design, DCT can become the removable storage solution of choice for a new generation of devices.”
DCT Technology Alliances
Iomega's DCT platform incorporates key enabling technologies from leading companies,
including Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Citizen and Texas Instruments. Such enabling
technologies include a new magneto-resistive (MR) drive head designed and developed
by Iomega and NANOCUBIC™ magnetic media coating technology developed by Fujifilm.
“Fujifilm is looking forward to CES and showing our high density recording
media through Iomega's DCT platform,” said Toshio Kawamata, general manager,
Technical Div. Recording Media Products Div. Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd
. “DCT utilizes NANOCUBIC technology, which makes the DCT media about
10 times higher in recording density than the magnetic
disks that are available today. NANOCUBIC technology is a major technological
advancement in round magnetic storage.”
Price and Availability Iomega-branded DCT drives in PC Card form and external USB 2.0 form
are expected in the second half of 2004, retailing for under $150. Iomega
DCT 1.5 GB disks are expected to be priced as low as $10 per disk in
a multi-pack, or less than a penny per megabyte* (all prices are U.S.
estimated pricing; exact pricing 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 desktop and network configurations, Iomega
Mini USB Drives and Micro Mini USB Drives, Iomega
external CD-RW drives, Iomega
Super 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 of Iomega's DCT technology, production
and distribution of DCT drives, disks, and products
incorporating DCT technology, anticipated drive
and disk pricing and availability, expected product
capacity, performance, and specifications, OEM
adoption, integration into consumer products,
future applications for DCT technology, market
acceptance and demand for DCT technology, 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 DCT development and testing, market acceptance
of, and demand for, the DCT technology and products incorporating the same,
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.
###
* Where 1 MB = 1 million bytes
Copyright© 2004 Iomega Corporation. All rights reserved. Iomega,
Zip, REV, 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. |