Seagate Introduces New Marathon 810sl Disc Drive for Mobile Computers; Newest 2.5-inch drive extends the most popular capacity point to the "slim-line" 12.7 mm form factor

Business Wire, June 10, 1996

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 10, 1996--Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG) today announced an important addition to its line of Fast ATA-2 disc drives for mobile computer systems. The new Marathon 810sl (ST9810A/AG) provides 811 Mbytes of storage in a 2.5-inch, slim-line package, with a 12.7 mm vertical height. This new drive targets the most popular storage capacity for mobile computers in 1996, which according to market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), is between 540 Mbytes and 1 Gbyte.

The thin profile of the Marathon 810sl provides reduced size and weight benefits without sacrificing storage capacity. With Seagate's newest mobile disc drive offering, storage intensive applications such as large databases, multimedia, and video are not limited to desktop PCs. Mobile users now have the capacity and performance they need to enable their use of more demanding computing applications.

"Today's mobile computer users want the full capabilities of their desktop PC while on the road, and mobile computer manufacturers need a time-to-volume disc drive designed to meet these needs," said Phil Detwiler, senior vice president of Marketing. "Seagate has leveraged its leading technologies and manufacturing expertise to provide an innovative storage solution enabling OEMs to effectively target the largest segment of the mobile computer market."

Utilizing a third generation Seagate platform with proven technology, the Marathon 810sl combines the peak detect read channel with Seagate's own advanced MR (magneto-resistive) heads. This design provides an excellent balance of performance, capacity and value ideally suited for high volume notebook systems.

Seagate-designed actuator and spindle motors are utilized to achieve exceptional performance, resulting in a fast 4,000-rpm spindle speed and quick 14 ms average seek time with minimal power requirements. Seagate's innovative power management features result in an average battery life 14% longer than competing 2.5-inch drives, enabling mobile computer users to run their systems longer between battery recharges. To provide users with unprecedented data protection in rugged mobile environments, Seagate's optional SafeRite(TM) feature enables the drive to withstand external operational shocks up to 100 G's.

Data throughput is enhanced with a large 120 Kbyte cache which dynamically responds to various applications. Combined with the Seagate-designed drive controller chip (DASH), the Marathon 810sl provides exceptional sustained data transfer rates for outstanding performance. Additionally, mobile users will realize these performance enhancements with a 3.5 Bel acoustic level in idle mode, ensuring whisper-quiet drive operation.

The Marathon 810sl will be available in July for OEM's and August for distributors.

Seagate Technology, Inc. is a data technology company that provides products for storing, managing and accessing digital information on the world's computer and data communications systems. Seagate is the largest independent disc drive and related components company in the world. Seagate's home page address on the World Wide Web is http://www.seagate.com. -0-

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CONTACT: Seagate Technology Inc.

Judy Plummer, 408/439-2862

Judy_Plummer@notes.seagate.com

Woody Monroy, 408/439-2838

Woody_Monroy@notes.seagate.com