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Tandberg's new SLR60 tape drive stores up to 60GB of data and features a 28.8GB per hour (8MB per second) transfer rate (capacity and transfer rate assume 2:1 data compression). As with previous generation SLR tape drives, the SLR60 features a 5.25-inch half-height form factor to ensure easy integration and scalability. Imation's new SLR60 tape cartridge offers up to 60GB of compressed storage capacity.

The SLR60 tape drive is planned for availability at the end of May 2000 at manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,149 (actual pricing may vary). The Imation SLR60 tape cartridge will be available at the end of May at an MSRP of $59.

The SLR60 tape drives and cartridges provide a complete, automatic data backup, file transfer and archiving solution for IT systems and network environments - meeting the needs and demands of high performance tape storage at an extremely affordable price. SLR60 tape drives are also being integrated into existing and future tape automation products.

"The introduction of the new high performance SLR60 tape drive, with its 4MB/s native and 8MB/s compressed transfer rate, combined with its scalability and backward compatibility with previous generations of SLR tape drives, automation products and tape cartridges, gives customers a unique growth opportunity with the proven, highly reliable SLR technology. SLR products continue to offer customers best in class price/performance value targeted for the entry level market upwards," said Bjørn Evensen, Corporate VP of Marketing, Tandberg Data.

"Imation SLR60 tape cartridges further Imation's decades-long tradition of delivering the industry's broadest portfolio of high-quality, highly reliable and rugged data storage products." said Steve Carter, General Manager of Program Development and Marketing, Imation Data Storage and Information Management. "The new SLR60 tape drive and data cartridges give managers attractive new choices for high-performance, cost-effective, reliable storage in the fast-growing small and medium business server market."
Performance

The Tandberg SLR60 tape drive offers in-line compression, enabling hardware compression before it enters the buffer, thereby freeing valuable buffer capacity, increasing data throughput and system performance. SLR60 tape drives offer fast average file access times at less than 53 seconds. These features, coupled with the large 8MB buffer, ensure that the time used for back-up/restore is kept to an absolute minimum. Additionally, the combined support of the SCSI Ultra 2 Wide LVD/SE interface allows for maximum performance when connected to either an Ultra 2 wide single-ended or LVD bus. Combined, these major performance enhancements enable SLR60 tape drives to outperform DAT technology, while offering an extremely attractive migration path to automation products. Optimized for automated environments, Imation SLR60 data cartridges are based upon metal particulate media technology and feature advanced servo-written patterns, which help provide high performance and capacity.

VR2 Enabled
The SLR60 tape drive incorporates the VR2™ (Variable Rate Randomizer) technology developed by Overland Data, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVRL). VR2 is an area-effective recording technique by which data is written using PRML (Partial Response Maximum Likelihood) format. This advanced PRML significantly increases the native capacity and native data transfer rate performance of linear tape technologies without requiring any changes in tape path design, recording heads and/or media.

Reliability
The Tandberg SLR60 tape drive features a six-channel Thin Film Magneto Resistive Head (TF/MR), that writes four tracks simultaneously, and includes features, such as data striping and Error Correction Code (ECC) blocks over four tracks, improving error correction and restoration of data from damaged media.

Additionally, the read/write channel adjusts automatically to changes in media and media performance, and a shock protection system uses the servo coil and servo tracks on the media to ensure that data always is written at the correct position on the tape. The SLR60 tape drive carries a three-year limited warranty including a two-day "Advanced Replacement Service" when purchased through authorized Tandberg Data resellers.

Imation SLR tape cartridges are based on proven linear recording technology, which provides significant reliability advantages over traditional helical scan drives and media. With Imation SLR, the tape path is contained entirely within the cartridge, reducing tape stress, ensuring data integrity and increasing cartridge reliability.
Compatibility and Scalability

Building on the proven, scalable and highly reliable SLR platform, the 2.9 million existing users of SLR tape drives can easily and safely migrate to the SLR60. New users are assured that SLR tape drives – including the new SLR100 (50/100 GB) tape drive released at Comdex Fall 1999 - will more than match their needs for storage capacity and transfer rates well into the future, as single tape drives or integrated into tape automation products.