Do other companies make pre-formatted CD-RW media? Not that I know of. I'm not sure why.
One possible reason, however, might be the fact that CD-RW media need to be formatted in different ways depending upon what they are going to be used for.
It's still an interesting idea for adding value to the blank media.
- Allen
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From the AOL Motley Fool Iomega board:
>>IOMEGA ANNOUNCES MAJOR NEW INITIATIVES FOR NOMAI, S.A.
Paris, France, October 20, 1998 – Iomega Corporation (NYSE:IOM) announced today the results of a preliminary three-month review into the future direction of Nomai, a company acquired by Iomega during July and August of this year in a deal worth US$45 million, which left Iomega owning approximately 98% of Nomai shares. Highlights of the review include the revamping of Nomai's existing CD-RW drive products and work on developing new ones. The Avranches headquarters of Nomai, near the Mont Saint-Michel, has also been selected as the European production-base for Iomega's Click!™ disks.
Iomega stated today that Nomai will be among the first in the industry to bring to market preformatted CD-RW discs. These discs will enable users to save the more than one hour traditionally needed to format such discs. A higher-change to speed professional (4x) CD-RW drive is expected to be produced by Nomai in the first quarter of 1999. This new product will complement Nomai's existing (2x2x6) drive aimed at home users.
Nomai's new General Manager, David HENRY, also confirmed today that the company will continue to sell SyQuest®-compatible media as well as Nomai 540 and 750 media. The Albi-based Nomai factory, near Toulouse, will carry on producing the 1.44 MB floppy disks as private-label brands and will also continue to evaluate new production opportunities.
Turning to Nomai's R&D capability, David HENRY stated today that key projects would be continued at the company's research establishment at Dunfermline, near Edinburgh, in addition to Avranches and Albi. In particular, Nomai engineers are investigating other optical solutions such as DVD and additional CD-RW options.
To bring all these changes together in the new Nomai, David HENRY presented the new Nomai corporate logo today that uses the traditional Iomega red and blue colors to signify the link between the two companies. As part of the change, Nomai's CD-RW products will have new packaging as Iomega injects its marketing expertise into the newly-acquired company.
Iomega's acquisition of Nomai followed a protracted legal dispute during which Iomega defended its intellectual property rights to its Zip® technology. In the settlement, Nomai agreed that Iomega patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets are valid and enforceable and that it had reproduced certain Iomega protected software in reverse engineering work for use in the manufacture of its XHD and DUO cartridges without authorization from Iomega. Production and commercialization of Nomai's XHD and the DUO cartridges has been discontinued.
Summing up the moves announced today, David HENRY said, "Nomai plans to expand its optical capabilities, and could potentially become the largest worldwide producer of Clik! disks. With this capability, Nomai now has a major stake in the future of Iomega's Clik! Technology. In return, Iomega now has a foothold in the optical removable storage market. Iomega is laying the foundation to ensure that it continues to offer customers what they need in terms of price, product range and quality in both the magnetic and optical fields."
Iomega Corporation (NYSE:IOM) manufacturers and markets the award-winning Zip, Jaz® and Ditto™ drives and disks that help people to organize, manage, create, exchange and share their important information. Used in homes, businesses, government or education, and by creative professionals everywhere, Iomega storage solutions are the enabling technologies preferred by millions.
Contact : Aude LEMEILLEUR
Tel : 33-(0)2 33 89 16 34, Fax : 33-(0)2 33 89 16 01
E-mail : alemeilleur@nomai.fr
Special Note: The statements in this release related to Nomai planning to revamp and expand its existing CD-RW technology, to develop new CD-RW technology, including the introduction of a higher-capacity CD-RW drive in the first quarter of 1999, statements regarding the sale of current products, the investigation of other optical solutions, such as DVD, and Nomai's ability to potentially become the largest worldwide manufacturer of Clik! disks and it's major stake in the future of Iomega's Clik! technology, as well as statements regarding the continuation of current production or research operations are forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements. These include, among others, continued development of optical technologies by Nomai, Iomega commencing shipments of its Clik! drives and disks, market acceptance of and demand for the Company's storage solutions, the impact of competition from other suppliers of data storage products, the availability of product components, the success of the Company's marketing activities, manufacturing and inventory issues, production costs, intellectual property rights, general economic conditions and the other factors described in Iomega's Annual Report to stockholders for 1997 on Form 10-K, filed March 31, 1998 and its most recent quarterly reports filed with the SEC
Iomega, Zip, Jaz, Clik! and the stylized "i" logo are registered trademarks, and Ditto is a trademark, of Iomega Corporation. All other products and brand names are the property of their respective owners. For maximum reliability, use only genuine Zip 100MB disks featuring the Zip 100 symbol in your Zip drive.
Dave
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