MORE BAD NEWS FOR IOMEGA:
3M Announces Technical Specifications for Travan-5; Solutions Ahead for Professional, High-Performance Network Market
Business Editors & Computer Writers
ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 1996--3M announced specifications today for the next generation of its proprietary Travan minicartridge technology.
Travan-5, the fifth in the family of Travan minicartridge platforms to be developed since the introduction of the technology, will feature a native capacity point of 10 gigabytes (GB). To be available in either a single-channel or a three-channel, high-performance option, Travan-5 drives will feature a transfer rate of either 1.2 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) or 3.0 MB/s, respectively.
"We expect forthcoming products based on the Travan-5 platform to provide a high-performance, highly reliable and cost-effective solution," said David Sewall, marketing director, Midrange Segment, 3M Data Storage Products. "This will position Travan technology very favorably in the professional network server market."
Drives based on the Travan-5 platform are expected to appear on the market in 1997, and will be broadly supported, including offerings from industry leaders such as Seagate Tape Operations and Hewlett-Packard's Colorado Memory Systems division, Sewall added.
The Travan licensee companies include Hewlett-Packard's Colorado Memory Systems division, Seagate, Iomega, Exabyte, Tandberg Data, Sony, Tecmar (formerly Rexon), Pertec Memories, AIWA, TEAC and 3M.
Travan technology was invented and patented by 3M. It was first introduced in late 1994, and has since set new standards for minicartridge performance and data storage capacity. Since its introduction, Travan technology has been embraced by users and manufacturers alike as a reliable, cost-effective storage solution.
Effective July 1, 1996, 3M will transfer Travan minicartridge manufacturing and marketing to Imation, the new imaging and information company being spun-off by 3M. Imation will be the world's leading supplier of branded removable media for data storage applications.
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This is the Seagate and Hewlett Packard threat that I have been warning about. These are cash rich companies that are formidable competitors to Iomega. The storage technology market is sliced into so many pieces now, that there is no way Iomega can retain its market share that is built into the current price.
Take this information and make your move.
Frank |
