Imation Introduces Tera Ångstrom Technology For The Development Of Terabyte-Class Tape Media

Advanced Coating Technology Improves Magnetic Tape Capacities to Meet Growing Demand of Large Scale Storage Applications

OAKDALE (April 13, 2004) - Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN), a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today announced its new Tera Ångstrom™ technology, a proprietary metal particulate advanced coating formulation and process that will allow Imation to manufacture and develop high-capacity tape media with terabyte-class storage capacities. With this proprietary technology, Imation is able to achieve the surface smoothness and uniformity required for the increased bit and track density needed to store multiple terabytes on a single cartridge.

The cartridges utilizing Tera Ångstrom technology will be in capacities of 400 gigabytes and higher; Imation expects to deliver multi-terabyte cartridges within the decade. One terabyte is the equivalent of one million megabytes of data, or 16 days of continuously running DVD movies.

“The drive towards the development of terabyte-capacity tape cartridges is in response to the growing demand for storage-intensive applications, such as data backup, data mining and archiving, for disciplines ranging from geophysics and financial to broadcast and government,” said Richard Weiss, vice president of research and development, Imation Corp. “As part of Imation’s commitment to providing best-in-class removable media products to our customers and partners, we believe the unique formulation and process of Tera Ångstrom technology will be Imation’s cornerstone for the future development of terabyte-capacity tape media.”

Imation Tera Ångstrom technology is based on three proprietary techniques used in the manufacturing process that make possible this new level of data density.

• Impingement process: High-pressure (>10,000 psi) impingement jets force particles against each other, blasting apart the clusters of magnetic particles and separating them into nanometer-size elements which enables magnetic layer uniformity — smaller particle size and more uniform distribution.
• Quiescent drying process: A delicate drying environment that utilizes low air velocity and magnetic coils for extremely precise particle orientation — eliminating coating disturbances and orienting the particles precisely to allow for maximum bit density and storage capacity.
• In-line calendering process: A series of rollers with an ultra-smooth finish that compress the tape surface to achieve surface smoothness measured in angstrom units. (An angstrom is equal to one tenth of a nanometer or a metric unit of length equal to one 10-billionth of a meter. One sheet of paper is approximately one million angstroms thick.) This surface smoothness and uniformity allows for increased bit and track density to deliver higher capacity cartridges.

“Imation’s formulation and coating process incorporates nanometer size needle-shaped magnetic particles uniformly oriented and processed through chrome plated rollers to achieve angstrom level surface smoothness,” Weiss said. “This proprietary technology makes it possible to write more data on the surface area of the metal particulate tape media, at the level needed to reach one terabyte and beyond cartridge storage capacities.”

Metal particulate (MP) is the coating technology found in some of the most widely used and rapidly growing data storage tape formats today. Future generations of MP media will provide storage capacities of one terabyte per cartridge and beyond needed to meet the demanding requirements of large scale data storage operations for backup and restore applications, nearline and offline storage, disaster recovery, business continuity planning and data archiving and retrieval. At its research and development facilities, located in Oakdale, Minn., Imation continues to advance the development of MP media capacity, performance, and pilot production designs that are implemented throughout the company’s manufacturing sites.

From its origins as 3M's Data Storage Division to today, Imation has been a worldwide leader in magnetic tape technology for more than 50 years, since the introduction of the first data storage tape in 1953. Since Imation’s inception in 1996, the company has invested more than $630 million in research and development and capital in its data storage removable media business to strengthen its core manufacturing and technology capabilities in optical and magnetic media. Today, Imation continues to be the leader of magnetic technology, offering the broadest portfolio of removable data storage products across all market segments, from computers, consumer electronics and small businesses to products for servers, storage networks and enterprise systems.

For more information on Imation’s Tera Ångstrom technology, please visit www.imation.com/teraangstrom.

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 100 countries, in both business and consumer markets. With more than 300 scientists and more than 330 data storage-related patents in the United States, Imation continues to pioneer today's proven magnetic and optical media technologies.
As of December 2003, Imation employed approximately 2,800 people worldwide. Revenues from outside the U.S. contribute approximately 54 percent of total sales. Additional information about Imation is available on the company’s website at www.imation-southasia.com.

Imation, the Imation logo and Tera Ångstrom are trademarks of Imation Corp