Iomega to Market IBM Microdrive Under Iomega Brand in 2001

Nov. 7 -- Iomega and IBM have reached an agreement that calls for Iomega to market IBM's Microdrive miniaturized hard disk technology under the Iomega brand in North America.
Beginning in February 2001, Iomega will be the first company to brand IBM's 340MB Microdrive. Iomega will bundle the drive with a type II plus PC card adapter and Iomega Quik Sync 2 software to provide customers with a powerful and flexible new solution for removable storage in laptop computers, consumer handheld devices, and digital cameras. The 340MB Microdrive with type II plus PC card adapter is currently compatible with 62 laptop computer models from 15 manufacturers, including Dell, Compaq, Toshiba, IBM, and Apple. The drive is also compatible with any digital camera or PDA equipped to use type II plus compact flash.

"The combination of Iomega's brand and channel strength with IBM's Microdrive technology creates a strong market opportunity for both companies,'' said Doug Collier, vice president of product management and business development, Iomega Corporation. ``Laptops are the fastest growing segment in the computer market today, and Iomega's strong retail presence will enable us to reach this growing audience of mobile users with the benefits of the Iomega Microdrive. This agreement results in a product that will be especially attractive to our channel partners and enterprise accounts."

"This packaging provides cutting-edge technology to a new generation of customers, who demand convenient, reliable storage solutions for their 'go-anywhere' computing devices," said Bill Healy, vice president of IBM Storage Technology. "IBM is pleased to continue its partnership with Iomega, an industry leader in external storage products for personal computers."

Users of the Iomega Microdrive will benefit from robust Iomega software included with the drive. Iomega Quik Sync 2 software will provide users with automatic on-the-fly file backup to protect important data from virus attacks and system malfunctions. Users can also set Iomega Quik Sync 2 software to store multiple file revisions, allowing them to recover earlier versions of important files even if the current version has been changed or damaged.

About IBM
IBM is a leader in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. IBM's award-winning Microdrive, available in 340MB, 512MB and IGB, is the world's smallest hard disk drive. The Microdrive brings affordable high-capacity, high performance data storage to a wide variety of handheld electronic products -- including digital cameras, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants (PDA), portable Internet music players and video cameras. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/storage/microdrive or call 1-888-426-5214.

About Iomega
Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM - news) manufactures and markets the award-winning Zip, Jaz and PocketZip drives and disks (formerly known as Clik!), the HipZip digital audio player, the FotoShow digital image center, and Iomega Quik Sync 2 software; Iomega also markets Iomega CD-RW drives and discs. Iomega's products help people to save, share, manage and create important information such as Internet downloads, audio files, personal photographs, spreadsheets, and slides, while protecting that content from viruses and hackers. Used in homes, businesses, government and educational facilities and by creative professionals everywhere, Iomega storage solutions are the enabling technologies preferred by millions. The Company can be reached at 1-888-4-IOMEGA (888-446-6342), or on the Web at www.iomega.com.

Source: Iomega Corporation