Certance Announces the Appointment of Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics -MKE- as OEM Distribution Representative in Japan.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 2003

Certance LLC (http://www.certance.com/):

-- DDS 5th generation drives and autoloaders now available

through MKE 

-- Relationship extends reliable, cost-effective Certance DAT 72

data protection solutions to serve business continuance needs

of Japan's small-to-medium sized businesses

Certance LLC (http://www.certance.com/), a world leader in innovative, cost-effective data protection solutions for companies of all sizes, and Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. (MKE), of Japan, a subsidiary of Panasonic parent, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (MEI), a major manufacturer of computer peripheral equipment, today announced the appointment of MKE as its OEM distribution representative for the industry-leading Certance DAT 72 family of products in Japan.

Certance's family of DAT 72 products include drive availability in standalone, single-drive, 1U rackmount configurations and autoloaders backward compatible with DDS-3 and DDS-4 media, to help companies leverage their existing investments in DDS technology. DAT 72 solutions offer the highest capacity and performance of any DDS technology solution in the market.

"As the unit volume leader in the global tape market, we are very excited to announce this agreement with MKE to provide the very important Japanese market with our growing family of DAT 72 data protection solutions," said Howard Matthews, president and CEO, Certance. "The Certance DAT 72 products extend our customer commitment to more than six million-installed users of DDS technology worldwide."

"We want to meet the needs of our customers in all areas and our collaboration with Certance will help us achieve this," said Kazuya Nakaya, Director, Storage Products Business Unit, Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. "This recent agreement means that we can now provide our Japanese customers with the full range of DAT 72 industry-recommended products."

Since the early 1990s, Certance and MKE have enjoyed a strategic collaboration, with MKE as a key manufacturer in the relationship. The two companies have focused on DDS technology including the DDS1 through DDS4 formats, and have also collaborated on several first product feature introductions in the DDS marketplace. This innovation-based relationship continues with the release of the market's fastest DAT 72 drive as well as the DAT 432 autoloader. With the release of DDS 5th Generation products, Certance and MKE continue a long-term commitment to work together to manufacture products that serve the DDS market segment.

About Certance

Certance is a worldwide market leader in tape backup products and data protection solutions with a commitment to innovative, cost-effective data protection for companies of all sizes. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Certance provides a full array of data recovery solutions including LTO Ultrium, DDS/DAT and Travan technologies and with more than 12 million tape devices installed worldwide. Recently, Certance extended its rich heritage beyond tape technology with the introduction of a new class of data protection solutions based on its exclusive DPA technology. The Company designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of solutions to meet the backup, restore and archive needs of virtually every platform from notebooks and PCs to enterprise servers. A Seagate affiliate, Certance can be found around the globe and at http://www.certance.com/.

About Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd.

Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. (MKE), a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., is a leading manufacturer of hard disc drives and storage products such as DVD MULTI drives. MKE's other products include TV/DVD/VCR combinations, video camcorders (DVC/VHS-C) and health care & medical equipment. For more information, please visit MKE's website at http://panasonic.co.jp/mke/en.

Certance and the Certance logo are trademarks of Certance LLC. TapeStor is a trademark or registered trademark of Certance LLC. Seagate and Seagate Technology are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Certance reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications. (C) Copyright 2003 by Certance LLC. All Rights Reserved.