Features - Enterprise Data Insights:

IOMEGA BACK IN THE SADDLE?

Iomega, after years of virtual absence, is returning to the removable hard drive arena.

The Removable Rigid Disk, which is capable of storing 35GB, is 2.5 inches, and should fit into a standard 3.5-inch bay.

The idea behind the RRD seems to be as an alternative to tape-based backup applications. Iomega believes that its RDD will be cheaper and faster than tape when data compression is on.

Dust contamination should not be too large a problem with the RRD either, as the drive motor is stored in its cartridge, not in the drive itself. Dust has been a problem for various removable hard drives, including Iomega's earlier effort, Jaz.

However, as a result of Iomega's purchase of SyQuest's assets in the 1990s, reliability becomes an issue. Even relatively new SyQuest cartridges offered spotty data integrity. With Jaz, though, Iomega fared better.

The RRD, expected on the market early next year, is already getting attention from potential OEMs.

The announcement of the new product is just the latest sign that Iomega might be on the rebound after a rough period where demand for its Zip, Clik and Jax drives waned. The company also announced recently the production of a 1.5GB micro drive.

For a company that has spent the last few years sticking to the basics, like CD-RW and Zip drives, innovations like the RRD mean the company may recover from its slump sooner than later.