Industry Leaders Join Forces to Enhance CD-RW Technology.Business Editors SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2000 Compaq, Microsoft, Philips and Sony Announce Mt. Rainier Initiative To Enable Operating System operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. Support of CD-RW (CD-ReWritable) The only rewritable CD technology. CD-RW disks look like other CD media, but with close inspection, they have a more polished surface with a very dark blue-gray cast. Drives Industry leaders Compaq, Microsoft Corp., Philips Electronics and Sony today announced a joint effort called Mt. Rainier designed to fuel continued adoption of CD ReWritable as the removable medium of choice for data storage and archiving in a PC environment. The overall objective of the Mt. Rainier group is to increase ease-of-use and compatibility of CD-RW by enabling Operating System support of CD-RW drives. "Clearly, CD-RW has struck a responsive chord among consumers," said Eggert Gudmundsson, business development manager, Philips Optical Storage North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , which is coordinating the Mt. Rainier group. "We expect industry shipments of CD-RW drives to exceed 30 million this year. Experts predict that more than 3 billion CD-R/RW discs will ship this year. Based on such consumer demand, it is natural that Philips, together with other industry leaders, would take steps to ensure that the format is as easy-to-use and intuitive as possible. Our work with the Mt. Rainier group will help ensure the continued success of the CD-RW format."
The Mt. Rainier group will build on the success of CD-RW by:
-- Enabling Operating System Support for CD-RW hardware, allowing
clear standardization of drive function and commands.
-- Enabling "background formatting," which will allow users to
format their CD-RW discs more efficiently, without waiting.
-- Ensuring greater compatibility by achieving native support
within the Operating System. This will eliminate users'
dependence on proprietary read drivers to ensure compatibility
between PCs.
The benefits to the consumer will include an overall enhanced "drag and drop A graphical user interface (GUI) capability that lets you perform operations by moving the icon of an object with the mouse into another window or onto another icon. For example, files can be copied or moved by dragging them from one folder to another. " experience with even greater ease-of-use and compatibility with the worldwide installed base of more than 300 million CD-ROM drives CD-ROM drives, which today typically means a CD-RW drive that is a combo CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW drive, come in a variety of speeds. The original drive (1x) transferred data at 150KB per second. . The PC industry will benefit based on a reduced overall system cost with less need for legacy support; additional functionality and continued market demand. "In order to bring CD-RW ease-of-use benefits to customers, the industry needs to rally around CD-RW standards," said Shawn Sanford, group product manager, Platforms Group, Microsoft. "Microsoft is pleased to be working with industry leaders such as Compaq, Philips and Sony to help make the CD-RW removable storage format successful and bring its tremendous benefits to Windows-based PCs." "Sony is pleased to join the opportunity in making the CD-RW technology easier-to-use and more accessible for PC users," said Katsuaki Tsurushima, corporate executive vice president of Sony Corporation. "Sony has played the role of licensor in promoting the Micro Floppy Disk system and has played an important role in the development and success of various CD-related systems, such as CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). and CD-R (CD-Recordable) A writable CD technology using a type of compact disc that can be recorded, but not erased (CD-Rs are "write once" discs). CD-R discs are used to master CD-ROMs, to back up data and to make copies of data for distribution. . We will once again take a key role in enhancing the CD-RW technology for worldwide utilization." "Compaq is dedicated to simplifying our customers' computing experience," said Ken Bush, Director of PC Storage Development at Compaq Computer Corporation (company) Compaq Computer Corporation - The largest US manufacturer and vendor of IBM PC compatible personal computers and servers. Compaq was started in 1982 by three ex-Texas Instruments employees. Quarterly sales $2499M, profits $210M (Aug 1994). http://compaq.com/. . "Developing industry standards for CD-RW technology addresses two critical Compaq goals -- simplifying the customers' experience and lowering overall costs." In addition to the four core companies, the following companies have announced their support for the initiative: NEC (NEC Corporation, Tokyo, www.nec.com, www.necus.com) An electronics conglomerate known in the U.S. for its monitors. In Japan, it had the lion's share of the PC market until the late 1990s (see PC 98). NEC was founded in Tokyo in 1899 as Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. Corporation, Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics (SEC, Hangul:삼성전자; KSE: 005930, KSE: 005935, LSE: SMSN, LSE: SMSD) is a South Korean multinational corporation and the world's largest and leading electronics and information technology company. , Lite-On Technology Corp., Acer Peripherals, Inc., Ricoh Company Ltd., Pacific Digital Corp., Ahead Software GmbH, Software Architects, Inc., Oak Technology, Inc., Phoenix Technologies Ltd., and Adaptec (Roxio). More information on the Mt. Rainier Group is available at www.mt-rainier.org. About Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, is the largest supplier of computing systems in the world. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures, and markets hardware, software, solutions, and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing Refers to information technology in the larger company. See enterprise data and enterprise networking. solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, and communications products, commercial desktop and portable products, and consumer PCs. Compaq products and services are sold in more than 200 countries directly to businesses, through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners, and directly to businesses and consumers through Compaq's e-commerce Web site at (http://www.compaq.com). Compaq markets its products and services primarily to customers from the business, home, government, and education sectors. Customer support and information about Compaq and its products and services are available at (http://www.compaq.com). About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT MSFT Microsoft (stock symbol) MSFT Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore (Italy) MSFT Multi-Stage Fitness Test MSFT Master of Science in Family Therapy MSFT Macalester Students for Fair Trade ") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. About Philips Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of $33.5 billion (EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 31.5 billion) in 1999. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, color picture tubes for televisions and monitors, and one-chip TV products. Its 232,433 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances domestic appliance domestic n → appareil ménager , components, semiconductors, medical systems, and IT services (Origin). Philips is quoted on the NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.news.philips.com About Sony Corporation Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be a leading broadband entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of more than $63 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2000. Sony's Home Page URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : http://www.world.sony.com/ Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft(R) Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft's corporate information pages. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion