Optware Corporation of Japan Launches Optware America; Holographic Digital Storage Pioneer From Japan Launches American Spin-Off To Commercialize Its Technology And Provide Sales Leadership In New Regions.

LONGMONT, Colo. -- Optware Corporation of Japan ("Optware"), a storage industry pioneer developing holographic digital storage technology and products, today announced that it has formed Optware Corporation of America ("Optware America") to develop new products, applications and software components for its patented Collinear(TM) holographic storage technology, MAGNUM Series Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) drives, and other related technologies. Optware America will also be responsible for sales of Optware's MAGNUM HVD drives in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"We are very optimistic about the creation of Optware America and its ability to play a sales leadership role in the Americas and EMEA," said Dr. Yoshio Aoki, President and CEO of Optware Corporation of Japan and formerly general manager of Sony's Optical Storage Business Unit. "Optware will work closely with Optware America's engineers to develop exciting new technologies and product innovations such as the Holographic Versatile Card, a credit-card-sized memory card application incorporating our Collinear technology."

Optware's Collinear technology and HVD combine many of the highly desirable features of hard disk storage such as massive capacity, high transfer rates and random access but with the additional advantages of highly portable, removable media in a CD/DVD form factor. Unlike magnetic tape, HVD delivers very low ongoing maintenance and management costs, and is easy to handle and store.

Collinear and HVD also differs significantly from hard-disk, tape, optical and other holographic storage systems:

--By adjusting one of its laser beams, Collinear technology can provide a physical level of on-disk encryption during recording and reading, which holds great promise for digital rights management and other applications requiring high levels of security

--Unlike conventional 2-Axis and Angle Multiplexing holographic drives, Optware's unique Collinear technology uses Shift Multiplexing with only one objective lens where the information beam and reference beam arranged into a single laser beam on the same axis, which means Collinear technology is very rugged, and can be more easily miniaturized and applied into various products

Optware, founded in 1999 by Mr. Hideyoshi Horimai who was a leading scientist at Sony, has been developing holographic digital storage technology with the goal of creating practical applications that will eventually deliver terabyte-class, removable media storage solutions. Optware America is led by President Terry Loseke, a former Vice President of Business Development at InPhase Technologies and Director of Product Development for DVD products at Hewlett Packard.

"We have the opportunity to develop and market a revolutionary new storage technology while at the same time drawing resources from a storage-rich community such as Longmont and the surrounding areas," said Loseke. "Innovation in storage has lagged in recent years, so Collinear and HVD represent breakthrough solutions for various enterprise and consumer applications. Optware America is positioned to play a leading role in bringing these new technologies to market."

Optware also led the creation of the HVD Alliance, an industry forum for technical discussions, and the creation of a new, technical committee in Ecma-International to develop ISO standards for HVD media and test equipment. Since inception, Optware has received significant financial backing and other support from leading Japanese corporations and venture capital firms, including Toshiba, Fuji Photo Film, Matsushita, Marubeni, Konica Minolta Opto, Intel Capital Japan, JAFCO, and Apax Globis.

About Optware

Optware (www.optware.co.jp/english/), based in Yokohama, nearby Tokyo, Japan, is a privately held company founded in 1999. The company developed and patented a completely new form of storage, Collinear(TM) Holographic Versatile Disc storage, called HVD for short. HVD will change how businesses will securely store, transfer, and manage large data files that require removable storage mechanisms. Optware's HVD will ultimately enable enterprises to store up to 3.9TBs on a CD-sized disc with data transfer rates up to 1Gbps. Additional information about Optware and its unique holographic digital storage technology and products can be found at www.optware.co.jp/english.

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