Phoenix Announces Specification That Enables Full Integration of New High Capacity Removable Media Into PC Systems; Phoenix and Compaq Jointly Develop New ATAPI Specification to Support Large Format Removable Media in New PCs

Business Wire, Sept 19, 1996

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 1996--Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTEC), in conjunction with Compaq Computer Corporation, today announces the release of a new jointly developed specification that enables personal computers to use ATAPI (Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface) compliant high capacity removable media as boot devices.

Compaq and Phoenix are the first companies to support this specification that breaks the 2.88 MB barrier of today's floppy disk drives.

"This specification will provide real benefits to PC users," said Gayn Winters, vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Division, Phoenix Technologies.

"With today's much larger operating systems, the storage limitations of standard removable media are a major concern for PC users when backing-up critical system files. With the ability to boot new high capacity removables, improved back-up capabilities will permit a one disk restoration of system critical files."

The ATAPI Removable Media BIOS Specification allows the BIOS to initialize all ATAPI removable media devices in the system, and configure them as either the primary or secondary floppy devices (A: or B: drive). It also provides runtime drive support using INT 13 in DOS or Windows. This specification allows new systems to operate using the ATA controller instead of a floppy controller.

The ATA interface is also used to control CD-ROM drives, tape drives, and soon, DVD (Digital Video Disc) devices. Many manufacturers of high capacity drives with removable media are migrating from the 15-year old floppy controller protocol to the ATA standard.

This new specification -- jointly developed by Phoenix and Compaq, is being offered to PC and peripheral manufacturers along with critical pseudo code -- a set of proprietary instructions for the BIOS, to speed industry wide adoption and provide greater compatibility in the marketplace.

Broad Industry Support

The new ATAPI specification is already receiving broad industry support. Some of the companies adopting this specification include: Fujitsu, Imation, Iomega, MKE, Mitsubishi, OR Technology, and Syquest.

Compaq: "The LS-120 Drive -- which stores 80 times more information than current 1.44MB diskettes, runs at a faster speed, and is fully backwards compatible -- is standard on several of our new Deskpro models," said Jerry Meerkatz, vice president at Compaq Computer Corporation. "This new specification and new technology will benefit the entire PC industry."

Fujitsu: "Fujitsu is pleased to be working with Phoenix to offer this important breakthrough on future ATAPI-compliant magneto-optical disk drives," said Ken Oberman, senior director of Fujitsu Computer Products of America's optical business unit.

"This specification will enable our PC customers to carry an entire system on a bootable MO disk and, at the same time, know that all their system and data files are stored on the most rugged media available."

Imation: "As a co-developer of LS-120 diskette technology, Imation welcomes the new specification as one that strengthens standardization of the LS-120 platform," said Ray Meifert, Business Director, PC Segment.

"With its high capacity, backward compatibility, strong industry support, and now this new specification, LS-120 technology offers users the powerful storage solution they need to manage and store data on the desktop."

Iomega: "There are currently more than 2 million Zip drives around the world, and many of the world's top computer system manufacturers now build them into their computers as either standard or optional features," said Timothy L. Hill, vice president worldwide marketing for Iomega.

"Iomega has had a long standing partnership with Phoenix and is pleased to support Phoenix's ATAPI specification with future ATAPI compliant drives. This effort, along with extensive ongoing efforts by Phoenix to enhance their BIOS to support the current internal IDE Zip drive will ensure that personal computer vendors have a flexible and seamless strategic path to replacing the outdated floppy drive."

OR Technology: OR Technology's 120MB a:drive(TM) is the only product available today that provides a bootable replacement for the floppy disk drive. It is the first ATAPI-compliant drive to market that supports Phoenix Technologies' removable media BIOS specification," said John Haughey, OR Technology president and CEO.

"With this achievement, we can now satisfy growing customer demand for an internal bootable solution that is also compatible with 720KB and 1.44MB floppy disk drives."

The new specification is available to interested manufacturers and developers on the Phoenix Technologies World Wide Web site at: http://www.ptltd.com/desktop/armdbs8.pdf.>About Compaq

Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune 100 company and the world's largest supplier of personal computers, delivers useful innovation through products that network people with information. Compaq is strategically organized to meet the current and future needs of its customers, offering Internet and enterprise computing solutions, networking products, commercial PC products and consumer personal computers.