Low-Profile LS-120 Drive Poised for Notebook Market Expansion

St. Paul, Minn. (June 17, 1996) -- Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics, Ltd. (MKE) and 3M today announced plans to provide a low-profile (15mm) LS-120 solution for use in notebook PCs. The move strongly positions LS-120 diskette technology for the exploding market in portable computers.

MKE plans to manufacture the low-profile drives, which will be fully compatible with existing LS-120 technology used on the desktop and media manufactured by 3M. On July 1, 3M's data storage business will become part of Imation Corp., the new imaging and information company being spun-off by 3M.

Developed by four leading technology companies, MKE, Compaq Computer Corp., 3M and O.R. Technology, LS-120 technology is a high-capacity diskette solution enabling users to store up to 120 MB of data on a single diskette. The drive -- whether in notebooks or the desktop -- provides full backward compatibility with the installed base of more than 5 billion diskettes, protecting end user data and providing a seamless migration to a dramatically higher capacity product.

"LS-120 technology is the perfect high-capacity diskette solution for notebooks," said Masato Suzuki, general manager, MKE. "The backward-compatible 120 MB floppy drive can be used to run multimedia programs, back up critical data and exchange large files. The 15mm profile will also allow the drive to be easily installed in most notebooks, replacing the existing 1.44 MB drive."

MKE's 15mm form factor drive is expected to be available during the first half of 1997.

"Since the LS-120 drive functions as a bootable A: drive and is read/write backward compatible with the existing base of diskettes, it can be easily integrated into the notebook platform where space is at a premium," said Michael Sheridan, general manager, 3M Data Storage Division. "As file sizes increase and portable computing becomes even more prevalent, the LS-120 drive should quickly emerge as the standard for removable, high-capacity storage in notebooks as well as desktop computers."

Compaq now incorporates the LS-120 drive in its award-winning Pentium-based Deskpro computers.

With an average power consumption of 1.5 watts, MKE's LS-120 drive conforms with the limited power requirements of a standard notebook floppy drive. 3M's LS-120 diskette technology has been designed with the notebook user in mind. The low-torque media enhances battery life and the wide diskette operating range of 10-60 degrees Celsius provides the media performance and reliability required in mobile environments.

"Notebook users are looking for advanced performance in a backward-compatible format," added Sheridan. "Because the LS-120 diskette is familiar, light, easy to use and built to withstand the extremes experienced by mobile users, it is a superior storage solution for desktop and notebook computing."

MKE is the world's leading supplier of CD-ROM drives, tape drives and other data storage peripheral devices.

3M is the world's leading supplier of branded, removable media for data storage applications. Imation Corp., which will be an independent, publicly held company with revenues of $2.25 billion (1995 figures), will be headquartered in Oakdale, Minn.

Copyright 1996 Imation. All rights reserved.