<<Ancor also strengthened its board with the addition of Amyl Ahola, President and COO of TeraStor>>
I don't recall news about this Quantum/TeraStor Equity & Licensing
relationship being posted here. Although this is 3 months old, it
is encouraging that Quantum thinks very highly of this company.
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QUANTUM AND TERASTOR ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR
NEAR FIELD RECORDING DISK DRIVES AND TECHNOLOGY
Quantum licenses TeraStor products/technology and increases equity stake in
company; partnership includes future product joint development
SILICON VALLEY, Calif., September 15, 1997 - Quantum Corporation
(NMS:QNTM) and TeraStorT Corporation today announced they are entering into a
strategic partnership for Near Field Recording (NFR)T disk drives and technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Quantum will license TeraStor's initial removable
disk drive products. The companies will also jointly develop a version of the disk
drive that is optimized for use in robotic libraries. In addition, the companies will
jointly develop certain future products. Each company will manufacture, market and
sell the initial products resulting from this cooperation. Quantum will also have the
right to develop, manufacture and market a variety of future products based on
TeraStor's Near Field Recording technology. Specific product announcements will
follow in the coming year. Quantum will also make an additional equity investment in
TeraStor as part of the relationship.
"We're pleased to have Quantum, one of the world's leading storage companies, see
the potential of TeraStor's unique technology. Quantum's partnership in the adoption
of this technology and the marketing of these products by two drive suppliers will
accelerate overall market acceptance. Further, their technology and product expertise
will help accelerate initial introduction of a variety of world-class data storage
products utilizing Near Field Recording technology. We look forward to working
together to bring this new class of storage products to market quickly," said Jim
McCoy, CEO of TeraStor.
According to Michael A. Brown, Quantum's CEO, this partnership between Quantum
and TeraStor is an important step in the development of new information storage
technologies. "Optical drives based on Near-Field Recording technology have the
potential to open new opportunities in information storage, and new markets for
Quantum, complementing our magnetic hard disk drives and DLTT tape drives," said
Brown. "We're also excited about entering into this exclusive relationship with such a
dynamic young company."
Prior to this new agreement, Quantum held an equity stake in TeraStor which it
received in exchange for licensing to TeraStor rights to patented flying head and first
surface recording technologies that are key enablers of NFR. The flying head is a
modification of the flying read/write head found in magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs),
combining elements of both magnetic and optical recording technologies. First
surface recording is the method of recording on the outermost layer of the disk,
closest to the head. To these technologies, TeraStor has added the Solid Immersion
Lens (SIL), which is the optical element in the flying head that enables higher
recording densities by reducing the magnetic bit cell size. The combination of these
technologies results in NFR.
About TeraStor
TeraStor Corporation is a mass storage technology company focused on designing
and marketing products utilizing its Near Field Recording technology. This
technology provides a significant capacity advantage at a lower cost-per-gigabyte
than all other existing storage technologies. TeraStor's Near Field Recording drives
will set a new mass storage benchmark for the next decade. The first TeraStor Near
Field Recording products will be available in the first half of 1998. For additional
information, contact TeraStor at (408) 324-2110. The company's web site is at
terastor.com.
About Quantum
Founded in 1980, Quantum Corporation is the only storage company that has
developed leadership positions in both fixed and removable storage products. One of
the highest volume global suppliers of hard disk drives and the leader in the
mid-range tape market, Quantum is widely recognized as the industry's quality leader.
The company sells a broad range of storage products to OEM and distribution
customers worldwide. Quantum's sales for the fiscal year ending March 1997 were
$5.3 billion. |
