Fujitsu Triples Magneto-Optical Storage Capacity With New 3.5-inch 640MB MO Drive for Macintosh; Contains Over-write Technology Increasing Performance By 33 Percent.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 1996--Fujitsu Computer Products of America, the market leader in magneto-optical (MO) drives, today announced the DynaMO 640, a 640MB drive externally packaged for the Macintosh market. The DynaMO 640 offers triple the capacity of the current 230MB offerings on a single disk, and delivers on the industry-standard road map for capacity increases. Also new to this generation of Fujitsu's popular DynaMO family is Over-Write (OW) technology, which increases write performance by up to 33 percent over previous generation DynaMO drives.

Fujitsu's new MO drive, demonstrated here at the MacWorld Expo, offers high capacity and near-hard drive performance, enabling a broad range of applications. Key uses are basic storage, data transport between systems, system-on-a-disk, multimedia presentations and secure archival. The advantages of MO over other removable storage solutions are standardization, investment protection, unlimited rewritability, and unrivaled data security.

"Capacity and speed enable the Fujitsu DynaMO 640 to cost-effectively store and run an entire system, complex applications, large video or audio files, and elaborate web sites on a single 3.5-inch removable disk," said Isaac van Kempen, senior product line manager of optical disk products for Fujitsu Computer Products of America. "The user gets unlimited rewritability, performance at speeds equivalent to a 14x CD-ROM drive, media costs as low as 6 cents per megabyte, and archival preservation of valuable data for a minimum of 30 years."

The DynaMO 640, which can use 640MB and 540MB MO disks, allows users to access data from previous-generation 230MB and 128MB 3.5-inch MO cartridges. Designed to also provide two-generations of forward compatibility, data recorded on 640MB disks with this drive will be accessible by two future generations and capacities of MO drives.

Fujitsu is the first 3.5-inch MO drive manufacturer to announce support for OW, an MO recording technique that reduces the time required to record data by eliminating the need to re-erase. Prior to OW, MO writing operations involved two passes; one to erase existing data, and a second to write new information. With OW, writing occurs in a single pass, therefore significantly improving performance.

Performance-Enhancing Features

Seek time on the DynaMO 640 averages 35 milliseconds and, with the drive's Fast SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), data transfer rates of 2.34 to 3.9MB/sec (internal) and up to 10 MB/sec (interface) are achieved. Other performance-enhancing features of the DynaMO 640 include a 2MB or 512KB data buffer and rotational speeds of 3,600rpm. The new drive also features an energy-conserving sleep mode that reduces the average power consumption to 1.7 watts when not in use. The drive's Fast SCSI interface also allows cross-platform compatibility to PC, Macintosh and UNIX systems.

DynaMO 640 Drive Specifications

    Optical disk cartridge         90mm (ISO/IEC) 3.5" MO
    Formatted capacity             640MB/540MB
    Drive data transfer rate       Up to 3.9MB/second
    Interface transfer rate        10MB/second (sync.)
    Seek time                      35 milliseconds (average)
    Rotational speed               3,600 rpm
    Interface                      Fast SCSI
    Cache                          512KB or 2MB
    Power Supply                   100 - 240 VAC adapter
    Drive power consumption        Operating    8.0W maximum
    (Excluding AC adapter)         Sleep        1.7W
    Dimensions (HxWxD)             2.2" x 6.7" x 8.9"
    Weight                         3.6 lbs.

Price and Availability

The DynaMO 640 will be available in October with a list price of $699. Fujitsu has been shipping an internal, bare drive (the M2513A) version of the DynaMO 640 to OEMs since May 1996.

About Fujitsu Computer Products

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. is part of $36 billion Fujitsu Limited, the world's second-largest computer company. Primarily responsible for input, storage and output solutions in the United States, Fujitsu Computer Products is part of Fujitsu's worldwide design, development, manufacturing and marketing operations.

The company of 850 employees encompasses research and development operations in Longmont, Colo.; manufacturing in Hillsboro, Ore.; marketing in San Jose, Calif.; and sales operations throughout the United States. Fujitsu Computer Products of America is based in San Jose, Calif. and is located at 2904 Orchard Parkway, San Jose, Calif. 95134.

For more information about FCPA products and services, use our Internet Web site at http://www.fcpa.com. The company can be also be reached by phone at 800/626-4686 or 408/432-6333 or by email at [e-mail].

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Note to Editors:

Fujitsu is a trademark of Fujitsu Limited. DynaMO is a registered trademark of Fujitsu Limited. All other product and company names are trademarks of their respective holders.

CONTACT: Mary Medeiros

Fujitsu Computer Products

408/894-3565

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Ellen Roeckl/Kerry Swanson

The Benjamin Group Inc.

408/559-6090

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