Imation Launches New SLR140 Cartridges to address the growing storage demands of small and mid-sized businesses

New tape system offers largest capacity and fastest speed of any SLR drive and tape cartridge in the industry

Singapore (November 18, 2003) — Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today announced the availability of Imation SLR140 tape cartridges for use in Tandberg Data’s SLR140 tape drives. The new SLR140 system offers the largest capacity and fastest speed of any SLRTM (Scalable Linear Recording) drive and tape cartridge on the market today.

“Data loss can impact a company significantly, as data lost due to downtime can drastically influence a company’s long-term success. And for small and mid-sized companies, this could mean the difference between having a business and having to shut down,” said Nancy Tan, Managing Director, Imation South Asia Region. “The SLR140 system combines the scalability and reliability of the proven SLR format to provide enhanced performance and capacity for the small and mid-sized business who needs to better manage vital assets such as customer records, financial data, and inventory in electronic files.”

The new SLR140 system features 140GB of compressed (70GB native) capacity, and 12MB per second (6MB per second native) compressed transfer rate. The SLR140 tape system also features a six-channel Thin Film Magneto Resistive Head (TF/MR) that writes four tracks simultaneously, and includes features such as data striping and Error Correction Code (ECC) blocks over the four tracks, resulting in improved error correction and restoration of data when errors occur.

The SLR140 cartridge is designed to provide the highest capacity and transfer rate available in the SLR technology line using the SLR140 drive. As with previous generation SLR tape drives, the SLR140 drive features a 5.25-inch half-height form factor to ensure easy integration and scalability and it will also have backward read/write capabilities with SLR100, SLR75 and SLR60 (SLR50, SLR40 and SLR7 read only) cartridges. SLR technology was developed in partnership by Tandberg Data and Imation for the fast-growing small and medium business server market to meet their need for affordable, high-performance data storage.

“The new SLR140 drive and tape cartridges, combined with its proven high reliability and backward compatibility with previous generations of SLR tape drives, provides companies with the added capacity and faster transfer rates they require to meet the challenge of managing today’s data growth,” said Jack Robinson, director, strategic OEM sales and business development, Tandberg Data.

SLR cartridges are based on proven linear technology. Large increases in recording speed and capacity are made possible by using multiple write and read channels in parallel for data recording. For supreme data integrity, SLR technology utilizes a pre-recorded servo-track on the tape for precise data reading/writing.

Imation SLR tape cartridges are based on MP (metal particulate) technology. At its research facilities located in Oakdale, Minn., Imation continues to advance the development of MP media capacity and read/write speeds. Imation recently announced it would invest up to $49 million over two years to develop advanced media coating capabilities at its Weatherford, Okla. plant. The expansion is expected to allow Imation to advance its MP manufacturing competencies across multiple formats, including SLR, for next generation data storage tape products.

Imation branded SLR140 tape cartridges will be available for sale to Imation’s distributors in November 2003. For more information, visit www.imation.com/slr.

Fifty Years of Manufacturing Excellence
From its origins as 3M's Data Storage Division to the introduction of the first data storage tape in 1953, Imation has been a worldwide leader in removable data storage for more than 50 years. Since its establishment, the company has invested more than $600 million in research and development and capital in its data storage removable media business, including the $49 million investment in its Weatherford, Okla. facility to develop advanced media coating capabilities. These investments, combined with Imation’s strong business partner relationships, keep Imation at the forefront of developing higher capacity and higher performance storage media.

About Imation
Imation Corp. is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of magnetic and optical removable data storage media. With one of the broadest product lines in the industry—spanning from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes of capacity in each piece of media, Imation serves customers in more than 60 countries, in both business and consumer markets. From large data centers to distributed networks, Imation's tape cartridges are used in data processing, security, business continuity, backup and archiving applications. Customer needs for reliability, convenience and portability to store and manage business data, photos, video, images and music on professional and home desktops and increasingly in consumer electronics devices drive demand for Imation's optical and diskette products. With more than 300 technology scientists and more than 300 data storage patents in the U.S. alone, Imation continues to pioneer today's proven magnetic and optical media technologies.

As of September 2003, Imation employed approximately 2,800 people worldwide. Revenues from outside the U.S. contribute approximately 53 percent of total sales. Additional information about Imation is available on the company's website at www.imation-southasia.com

SLR (Scalable Linear Recording) is a trademark of Tandberg Data. Imation is a trademark of Imation Corp.