St. Paul, Minn. (March 27, 1995) -- In its most comprehensive statement on Travan™ technology since the new 3.5-inch minicartridge platform was unveiled in December, 3M announced today that it expects the Travan migration path to exceed 15 gigabytes (GB) by 1997.

3M is investigating advanced media formulations, track density improvements and high-speed computer interfaces to support high-capacity increases with the Travan platform, according to Michael Stevens, business development director, 3M Data Storage Products Tape Technology Division.

3M also is participating in new software co-development alliances that will transform the role of tape on the desktop and propel Travan technology into the local area network (LAN) environment, Stevens said.

In a related announcement, 3M today announced the first Travan minicartridge -- the TR-1. The TR-1 provides users with 400 MB of native storage capacity, more than doubling the capacity of the industry's top selling QIC-80 minicartridge.

The Travan platform will enable manufacturers to develop new high-capacity drive and minicartridge products. To date, several leading companies have announced plans to manufacture products based on Travan technology. In addition to 3M, these companies include Hewlett-Packard's Colorado Memory Systems Division, Conner Peripherals, Sony, Iomega, Rexon and Pertec.

"Travan technology is the platform that will deliver an extremely reliable, high-capacity, low-cost storage solution for a wide range of desktop and midrange applications," Stevens said.

"When coupled with multi-gigabyte Travan minicartridges, software under development will support a broader range of applications such as direct recording and playback of computer data, audio, video and other multimedia files."

Stevens expects the user benefits of Travan technology to fuel significant growth in the "attach rate" of tape drives to PCs -- currently more than 11 million units, according to several research firms.

3M also expects Travan technology to deliver a number of important benefits to LAN managers and network administrators.

"Quarter-inch technology is widely recognized as the most reliable tape solution available," Stevens added. "3M currently is working with a number of vendors to ensure that Travan autoloaders are available within the next year. We fully expect to see libraries of Travan minicartridges by the end of 1996."

Compelling User Benefits
"The inherent benefits to users of Travan technology -- substantially higher capacity while maintaining backward capability with existing media -- cannot be disputed," said Fara Yale, principal analyst, Dataquest Computer Storage Service. "The new minicartridge technology offers excellent potential for this segment of the tape industry, a win for end users. Travan technology represents a long-term view of the market that will make QIC minicartridge products even more competitive in the future."

Travan technology optimizes available space in a 3.5-inch drive housing. Mechanical changes will allow the drive to use the previous-size minicartridge, QIC-Wide and Travan cartridge interchangeably. 3M's new Travan minicartridges contain 750 feet of .315-inch media. The initial Travan minicartridges require no change in media formulation and utilize existing drive electronics and available head technology.

Travan technology features a unique drive/cartridge interface patent application filed by 3M. When issued, the patent may be licensed to interested drive manufacturers by 3M.

Later this year, 3M plans to introduce TR-2, a modified QIC-3010 minicartridge with a native storage capacity of 800 MB (now 340 MB) and TR-3, a modified QIC-3020 minicartridge with a capacity of 1.6 GB (now 670 MB). The company also plans a 1995 launch for TR-4, with a native capacity of 4 GB.

Data cartridge technology, invented and patented by 3M, is the world's most popular desktop backup technology and boasts an installed base of more than 11 million drives, with three million shipped in 1994 alone.

3M is the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of branded minicartridges.

Travan is a trademark of 3M.
QIC-Wide is a trademark of Sony.

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