Features - Storage Innovations:

IMATION OPENS TB-CLASS MAGNETIC TAPE MANUFACTURING FACILITY

Imation Corp, a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, unveiled a new $50 million state-of-the-art advanced tape manufacturing facility at its Weatherford, Okla., plant -- delivering the world's first terabyte-class tape facility built specifically for the development of next-generation tape products. The new 40,000 square-foot facility will incorporate Imation's new Tera Angstrom technology, a proprietary metal particulate (MP) advanced formulation and process, that will allow Imation to achieve the smoothness and uniformity required to develop future tape technologies with terabyte capacities.

"This is an important milestone for Imation, as we continue to expand our investment in manufacturing capabilities here in the United States with this world-class facility," said Frank Russomanno, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Imation Corp. "Imation invested more than $100 million in research and development and capital expenditures in our data storage removable media business in 2003 alone, half of which was invested in this state-of-the-art advanced tape manufacturing facility, representing the single largest capital investment to date in Imation's history."

"Imation is the only U.S.-based manufacturer of advanced magnetic data storage media with a heritage in tape technology that spans more than 50 years, and our investments today in this new facility and Tera Angstrom technology, combined with our strong industry partnerships, will lead us far into the future," added Russomanno.

"Imation's investment in Weatherford is a significant example of our commitment to quality and excellence in manufacturing. With this new facility, Imation has significantly increased its MP manufacturing capabilities required for the development of future tape storage products, such as increased areal densities, thinner substrates, tighter head-tape interface tolerances and higher tape speeds," said Colleen Willhite, vice president and general manager of Imation's Magnetic Products division. "We built this facility to utilize our technology building blocks, such as Tera Angstrom technology, that will support the development of advanced MP tape technologies and lead to multi-terabyte cartridge capacities."

Imation's new Weatherford facility will begin commercial production in Q2 2004. Initial products will be in capacities upwards of 200GB; Imation expects the new coating facility to deliver multi-terabyte cartridges within the decade. One terabyte is the equivalent of 1 million megabytes of data, or 16 days of continuously running DVD movies.

Located 60 miles west of Oklahoma City, Imation's Weatherford facility is an ISO 9001:2004-certified magnetic media coating facility; it currently employs approximately 100 people. The company did not discuss projected employment impact at the highly automated manufacturing site.

"We are excited to expand our presence in Oklahoma, where we have had tremendous support from the Weatherford community for our business, employees and their families," said David Heath, plant manager of Imation Weatherford. "The community's support and our employees' hard work and continued dedication has been critical to our success, and we look forward to the advancements we will deliver to the industry with the opening of this new facility."