Seagate Takes Time-To-Market Lead in Mainstream Desktop Arena
28-Gbyte Barracuda ATA Disc Drive Brings High-End 7,200-rpm Performance At a Mainstream Price
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE: SEG - news)
today shattered the rules for Desktop computing with the new Barracuda ATA disc drive family, which
offers high-end 7,200-rpm performance at a mainstream 5,400-rpm price. This performance value is
unprecedented in the Desktop storage market. Barracuda ATA is also the first 7,200-rpm Desktop disc
drive offering capacity up to 28 Gbytes, and up to 7.1 Gbytes per disc. It's also the most rugged Desktop
disc drive available today and can withstand 300Gs non-operating shock, surpassing all competitors.
While 28 Gbytes was an unimaginable amount of data storage just a few years ago, Seagate's Barracuda
ATA now brings enough power and elbow room to take full advantage of the trend to harness the power
of the Internet and digital information for PC users. On a single 28-Gbyte Barracuda ATA, a user can
collect 9 VHS-quality feature films, 8 high-performance gaming applications, 100 rolls of digital film and
2 hours of video clips of the kids to E-mail to Grandma -- with room to spare.
''Because of its high-performance features, the Barracuda ATA is the mainstream disc drive best suited to
handle today's most exciting applications,'' said Seagate President and CEO Steve Luczo. ''Today, people
aren't just viewing the Internet or sending E-mail -- they're also downloading and playing games, editing
photos and videos, bringing work home in a real-time global economy, working with advanced
spreadsheet modeling and graphics, viewing and capturing TV, mastering CDs and MP3 Audio and
managing their home budget -- often all at once.''
What's more, because of the drive's fast spindle speed and seek time, the customer can use all of this
data swiftly and easily -- even simultaneously. With an expected performance improvement of up to 30
percent over Seagate's latest best-in-class products, it lets mainstream PC users start their computers
faster, open applications and data files faster, work faster and be more effective.
''Seagate has leaped to the front of the pack to become a time-to-market leader with the Barracuda ATA,''
said Luczo. ''We are already shipping evaluation units to key customers, and plan to be the
time-to-volume leader, based on our ability to ramp quickly once a product is introduced. We expect
broad qualification of this family at the top PC makers, which would clearly signal our time-to-market
success and our customers' enthusiasm for the price/performance value of this new high-performance
drive.''
The Barracuda ATA is leading the way to the consumer and commercial information system of the future
-- a future filled with more Internet interaction, video E-mail, real time video communications, home
video editing and mastering, DVD download and storage, home networking and device sharing, home
audio/video server capabilities and transparent work-at-home support.
The introduction of the Barracuda ATA affirms Seagate's determination to take the leadership position in
the mainstream Desktop market. Danielle Levitas, senior research analyst at International Data
Corporation (IDC) stated that 7,200-rpm drives are expected to represent 60 percent of the Desktop
segment by year end 2000. With its huge capacity and fast spindle speed -- but without the usual 15
percent price premium -- the Barracuda ATA gives Seagate's OEM and distribution customers a unique
opportunity to offer superior performance value to their customers.
''The Barracuda ATA changes the game and gives Seagate the advantage in the Desktop market. Our
time-to-market leadership combines with a compelling new price structure and best-in-class reliability to
provide our customers unprecedented ease of entry into the mainstream and high-end Desktop markets,''
said Brian Dexheimer, Seagate's senior vice president for Desktop Marketing and PLM.
Offering from 6.8 to 28 Gbytes, the Barracuda ATA uses GMR heads and superior disc/head technology
to provide 70 percent more capacity than any previous Seagate Desktop drive. It offers industry-leading
8.6-millisecond average seeks and internal transfer rates of up to 323 Mbits per second.
Continuing Seagate's industry-leading reliability, the Barracuda ATA features Seagate's innovative
SeaShield System, providing enhanced handling and ESD protection; installation aids such as DiscWizard;
data integrity features including S.M.A.R.T., E.C.C. and Safe Sparing; and Drive Self Test (DST) to
enable intelligent self diagnosis by the disc drive.
Customer evaluation units are shipping now, and volume production is scheduled for this summer.
Seagate will be featuring the Barracuda ATA at the Computex show in Taipei this week.
Seagate Technology, Inc. is a leading provider of technology and products enabling people to store,
access, and manage information. The Company is committed to providing best-in-class products to help
people get information when, where and how they want it. Seagate is the world's largest manufacturer of
disc drives, magnetic discs and read-write heads, an innovator in tape drives, and a leading developer of
Enterprise Information Management software. Seagate can be found around the globe and at
seagate.com. For automated news, stock and financial information by phone, dial toll-free
877-SEG-NYSE. Outside the U.S. and Canada, dial 760-704-4368.
NOTE: Seagate and Seagate Technology are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology, Inc.
Barracuda ATA, SeaShield and DiscWizard are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate
Technology, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to shipment and delivery of the Barracuda ATA
platform. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of the
Company to successfully develop and market the Barracuda ATA platform. The Company undertakes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof.
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