Siros Demonstrates Ultra High Capacity DVD Technology.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2000

Siros' 3DR Storage Technology Gains an Extraordinary 7 Times Over

Today's DVD Capacity and At Greater Than 2 Times Performance

Siros Technologies, a privately held company in the forefront of emerging optical technologies, announced today the industry's first successful demonstration of the ability to write and read-back data in multiple thin layers within the depth of a single optical phase change disk, resulting in a seven-fold increase in storage capacity over today's DVD-RAM. Current DVD-RAM recording capacity is 2.6 GB on a single-sided disk; with Siros' 3DR (three dimensional recording) technology, DVD can store 18 GB on a single-sided, or 36 GB on a dual-sided, disk. To the consumer, this means that a 36 GB DVD could record 6 to 9 hours of HDTV programming. This breakthrough technology significantly expands today's storage solutions while building upon the solid base of the storage devices that are currently in use.

"This is a fundamentally different approach to the design of multi-layer phase change media," said Dr. Lambertus Hesselink, Chief Technology Officer, Siros Technologies. "It gives us a way to immediately and substantially increase achievable storage capacity using current red laser-based DVD technology. Later on, when blue laser technology becomes commercially widespread, even further advantages will be realized."

Three-dimensional data recording, a long-anticipated goal of the industry, has so far been plagued with difficulties such as optical distortion, low signal to noise ratios, crosstalk between adjacent layers, and other problems inherent in the overall complexity of multi-layer technology. Siros' 3DR technology, built upon current DVD technology, provides innovative solutions to these problems within the domain of existing technical capabilities. Leading edge media designs and confocal detection in the Siros optical drive deliver high signal to noise ratios, high capacity and high data integrity for multiple data layers. Further, 3DR is capable of fast random access seek to data on any layer and track, resulting in rapid availability to any portion of the data. These advances represent on-going engineering efforts by Siros and its corporate partners.

Critical aspects of the 3DR technology are contained in the Siros intellectual property portfolio, which now includes over 50 patents, applications and exclusive licenses covering all facets of their recording technologies. The significance of Siros 3DR technology may well extend beyond future DVD products. The company is seeking to apply the technology to other data storage uses such as consumer digital cameras and enterprise nearline storage, setting the stage for an advance to the next generation of recordable and rewritable optical products. With 3DR, Siros has achieved the highest storage density using commercially available, industry-standard DVD components and processes, and conventional far-field recording. Other capacity gains being explored by the industry, such as higher numerical aperture and blue lasers, can also be used in conjunction with the Siros 3DR technology, providing even greater gains of 10 to 20 times in storage capacity.

"A multi-layer technology, such as the one that Siros has demonstrated, has the potential of solving the high capacity demands of consumer applications like HDTV or network attached storage in the enterprise without requiring blue lasers," said Wolfgang Schlichting, Research Manager, Removable Storage, IDC. "The intended compatibility of 3DR with DVD technology will be a key advantage of Siros' technology."

One of Siros' corporate partners cooperating on the 3DR development is TDK, a world leader in high technology solutions for the information industry.

"We're extremely interested in technology that has a strong potential for being the basis for the next generation of recordable and rewritable storage products," said TDK USA Corporation President Ken Aoshima. "Our investment in Siros and cooperation on this project is a demonstration of TDK's commitment to increasing the storage capacity of optical media, as well as a strong endorsement of Siros' technology."

About Siros Technologies, Inc.

Siros Technologies, Inc., located in San Jose, California, is an innovator of new ultra-high density, optical storage products with the capacities and performance capabilities required by continually evolving information-based applications. The company's three-dimensional recording (3DR) technology utilizes the third dimension (depth) to store data resulting in volumetric capacity gains. Siros' very-small-aperture laser (VSAL) technology produces smaller data 'bits' to create areal capacity gains. More information on Siros can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sirostech.com

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