Conner Delivers Most Extensive Selection of Disk Drives Available for Desktop Personal Computers.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 1995--Conner Peripherals, Inc. (NYSE: CNR) today announced a major extension of its successful low-cost, high-capacity line of Conner Filepro Series "Cabo" disk drives designed for consumer and business personal computers.

Featuring a new generation of technological innovation, these additions to the 3.5-inch Cabo line include one-disk 540MB and two-disk 1.08GB drives, as well as a three-disk 1.62GB drive, the industry's first desktop product announced at this high capacity point. Together with existing 425MB, 850MB and 1.27GB drives in the Cabo family, in addition to a unique new 635MB model, the expanded product line now represents the most comprehensive selection of entry-level Enhanced IDE drives available from a single supplier.

"Storage is the keystone that will enable PCs to become the communications devices of the future," said Finis Conner, chairman and chief executive officer. "Increasing use of the Internet and other computer-based services as primary information sources is helping to drive the need for more choices in storage capacity. The same holds true for emerging applications that stir the imagination, like video conferencing and video mail. As PCs continue to reach out from the desktop for more data, appropriate storage options will grow in importance."

The new Cabo products give computer manufacturers added flexibility in designing PCs with a range of disk drive capacities matched to business, family, education, entertainment, home-office and small-office requirements. The drives are ideally suited for the high-capacity requirements of multimedia applications. Moreover, Conner's use of a common design reduces the cost and time necessary for manufacturers to qualify the disk drives and bring new PC products to market.

"System price and storage capacity are becoming dominant factors in PC purchasing decisions," said Gary Marks, vice president of disk drive marketing at Conner. "Businesses and mass market buyers want computer systems tailored for their specific needs, whether it's to run a typical set of office applications, handle a personal checking account, assist children with school assignments, download research from on-line information services, or entertain themselves. What may be appropriate storage capacity for one person may not be the same for someone else. Conner's expanded line of Cabo drives gives PC manufacturers the latitude to support these diverse market requirements."

New 635MB Capacity Point

The Cabo product family now includes a unique new 635MB disk drive that allows computer manufacturers to further broaden and differentiate their product line. Conner's 635MB drive offers another storage option between entry-level 425MB systems and those that require higher capacities in the 850MB to 1GB range.

"Conner is allowing its customers to better differentiate and define incremental capacity improvements for desktop solutions," said Alexa McCloughan, vice president of storage research at International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass., market research firm. "The 635MB drive is a mid-step capacity point. We believe this class of product fits particularly well in consumer and retail products where value is the highest priority."

"Conner Peripherals led the industry in establishing the 850MB and 1.27GB capacity points," said Dan Kennedy, senior product development manager at NEC Technologies. "We adopted these capacity points and have passed along to our customers what we perceive as an exceptional value in disk storage. Likewise, we anticipate Conner will continue to deliver exceptional value with this new Cabo 635MB drive."

"By defining the 635MB product category, Conner continues its tradition of industry leadership in establishing storage standards," Marks said. "Today, much of the industry has standardized on the 850MB and 1.27GB capacity points which Conner first introduced last year. We're confident the market will recognize the value of Conner's new 635MB capacity point and adopt it as a desktop PC standard as well. For some of our customers, 635MB could well become an attractive option for entry-level systems."

The new Cabo drives also are targeted at the burgeoning PC upgrade market. According to IDC, home and business users are expected to buy approximately 15 million high capacity disk drives during 1995 as they upgrade their systems, largely to be able to run new multimedia software and take advantage of Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system and follow-on 32-bit software.

Advanced Technology

In addition to offering a wide choice of capacities, the low-profile Cabo drives feature innovations in design, electronics and disk media that contribute to reduced costs, higher performance and increased capacity. Features of the new drives include:

- A low-cost design that reduces the number of mechanical and electronic components and takes advantage of today's most economical and advanced manufacturing techniques. For example, Conner's automated processes eliminate operator handling and shorten the time required to complete a drive. Base plates that hold the head-disk assembly and printed circuit board are stamped rather than cast, greatly reducing costs.

- Conner's advanced disk media, which offers the highest magnetic density in the industry today. This enables Conner to provide 540MB on a single platter using low-cost, proven head technology.

- Adaptive, segmented 64KB buffers that use Conner's advanced caching methods to anticipate future drive operations and execute them during the same revolution of the disk. These buffers reduce inefficiencies caused by rotational latency, improving the ability of the drives to transfer large blocks of data at a faster rate, a feature previously available only on higher performance products.

- Support for PIO Mode 4 via Enhanced IDE or Fast ATA-2, as well as Multiword DMA Mode 2, for data transfer rates of 16.6MB per second, the fastest available for today's desktop systems, making them ideal for data-intensive multimedia and graphics programs.

- Conner's patented power-saving commands, which allow the drives to be put into "sleep" mode during periods of inactivity to reduce electrical consumption to less than 1.0 Watt to meet federal energy-conservation goals for "Green PCs."

- A three-year warranty and Mean Time Between Failure Ratings of up to 300,000 hours, which meet or exceed reliability ratings of competing products in the same class.

Pricing and availability

Evaluation units of the 635MB version of the new Conner Filepro Series Cabo drives are available now, with production set to begin in April. Evaluation units of the 540MB, 1.08GB and 1.62GB Cabo drives will be available in May, with production planned for June.

OEM evaluation pricing for the drives is as follows: CFS 541A, $240, CFS 635A, $275; CFS 1081A, $350; and CFS 1621, $450.

Founded in 1986, Conner sells, designs and builds a comprehensive line of information storage solutions products, including disk drives, tape drives, storage management software and disk array storage systems, for a wide range of computer applications. Conner had 1994 sales of $2.4 billion.

CONTACT: Conner Peripherals Inc.

Kevin Burr or Mike Seither, 408/456-3134

or 408/456-3743