Leading disk drive suppliers agree to support S.M.A.R.T. data protection standard for ATA/IDE-interface drives; Conner, IBM, Quantum, Seagate and Western Digital agree upon S.M.A.R.T. specifications that provide systems makers with the ability to warn users of impending danger to data on disk drives

Business Wire, May 17, 1995

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 1995--The top five disk drive manufacturers in the world have agreed to support a new set of data reliability specifications that will enable systems manufacturers to warn users if a disk drive is in danger of losing any stored data.

This new technology, known as "Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology," or S.M.A.R.T., is well on the way to being instilled as an industry standard. The technology, which Compaq Computer Corp. pioneered, is designed to protect user data and prevent unscheduled computer downtime that may be caused by predictable degradation or fault of a disk drive. S.M.A.R.T, when properly enabled by host system manufacturers, is intended to provide users with advanced warning to take appropriate action to protect or backup the data in jeopardy. S.M.A.R.T. will be incorporated into ATA/IDE disk drive products from each of the supporting manufacturers, and will be available in some products to all OEMs, VARs and integrators with Windows 95 support.

"As the originator of the S.M.A.R.T. specifications, which are found in the IntelliSafe hard drives Compaq introduced in March on our new Deskpro line, we are extremely pleased to see hard drive manufacturers join efforts to standardize this technology," said Kevin Bohren, vice president of Compaq. "This standardization will hasten the adoption of these features by software vendors and further the development of new, enhanced levels of desktop fault prevention. Compaq's Intelligent Manageability solution, which is fully compatible with the S.M.A.R.T. technology, is supported by leading network software providers and provides revolutionary desktop management features."

"The storage industry has made remarkable gains in improving the technology in disk drives, to the point where we've reached unprecedented levels of reliability," said Gary Marks, vice president of marketing for disk drives at Conner. "Conner is committed to continuing this tradition and supports efforts to increase the integrity and availability of data. The S.M.A.R.T. specification advances that cause, especially at a time when computers are becoming the repositories of more and more business information."

"The S.M.A.R.T. specification now enables us to embed in our AT drives the technology that we have been shipping as our SCSI Predictive Failure Analysis function," said Mike Cannon, vice president for Product Design and Product Management, IBM Storage Products Company, a unit of the Storage Systems Division. "This will extend the data protection benefits of our PFA beyond server applications to desktop and mobile computer users."

"Hard disk drive reliability is at a level which is 10 to 30 times that of floppy and CD-ROM drives," said Young Sohn, vice president of marketing of Quantum's Desktop and Portable Storage Group. "But with capacities for the desktop PC quickly moving into the gigabyte range, users are naturally looking for added assurance that their valuable data has the highest level of protection. Through disk drive firmware and system-level software, the S.M.A.R.T. System extends data and overall system reliability for the added peace-of-mind for home and business users."

"As personal computer users continue to use and store larger and larger amounts of data, security of that data becomes ever more important," said Amyl Ahola, Seagate's vice president of Product Line Management. "S.M.A.R.T. is an emerging new technology that provides our customers with the capability to give users greater confidence in their systems."

"The S.M.A.R.T. specification is an important aspect in increasing the quality and reliability of data," said John Burger, vice president of marketing for Western Digital's Personal Storage Group. "There are more transistors in today's hard drive electronics than in a 386 motherboard, so it is a natural evolution to apply this technology to advance disk drive reliability as we move forward. Western Digital is committed to continuous quality improvement in all areas of the business, and we believe the full complement of industry support for the S.M.A.R.T. specification will serve to facilitate further reliability and improvements for the user."

Founded in 1986, Conner sells, designs and builds a comprehensive line of information storage 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.

IBM is the world's largest supplier of computer storage products. Through its Storage Systems Division, the company provides a full line of storage solutions for IBM computing systems, for OEMs, and for commercial distribution. Its offerings include disk drives, arrays and subsystems; magnetic tape drives, subsystems and automated libraries; optical drives and libraries; storage controllers and related storage management software.

Founded in 1980, Quantum Corp. designs and manufactures storage products for today's digitized world. The largest global supplier of hard disk drives, Quantum is widely recognized as the industry's quality leader. The company sells a broad range of storage products to OEM and distribution customers worldwide. Quantum's World Wide Web home page address is http://www.quantum.com.