U3 Adds New Software from OpenOffice.org, Maxthon, ThinkFree Plus New U3 Smart Drives from Clever-Stuff, SanDisk, PQI and TwinMOS

Business Wire,  Jan 4, 2006  

Tags: SanDisk Corp.

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LAS VEGAS -- One year since its debut at the International Consumer Electronics Show, U3(TM) LLC returns to Las Vegas with a bevy of hardware partners offering U3 smart drives, thousands of software companies registered to develop U3 smart applications and a host of new announcements. U3 revealed today that Yahoo!(R) toolbar is now available for use on U3 smart drives, through the Mozilla Firefox browser for U3. OpenOffice.org and ThinkFree suites of office productivity applications, plus the award-winning Web browser Maxthon are also available on U3 Software Central for download to any U3 smart drive. In addition to these new software partners, U3 welcomed new smart drives from SanDisk(R) Corp., PQI and TwinMOS giving U3 an even greater worldwide presence. With these additions, consumers will have more than 30 different U3 smart drives to choose from, all capable of carrying and launching any U3 smart application.

U3 smart drives carry and run a person's digital universe - not only files but software programs, preferences, PC settings and the means for managing it all - on any PC. U3 created the smart drive computing platform to unite hardware companies interested in building smart drives with software companies looking to make their applications capable of running on other devices. Together U3 and its partners have pioneered a new kind of personal computing experience in which consumers can use a variety of PCs and access their familiar computing environment wherever they go on a tiny U3 smart drive no bigger than a pack of gum. The U3 smart drive houses all of the information which temporarily runs on the PC. Nothing is installed on the PC and when the smart drive is removed the computer retains its original settings.

"In a matter of months U3 has evolved from merely a great idea into a best-of-breed standard, anchoring global hardware vendors and an ever-growing developer network," said U3 Chief Executive Officer Kate Purmal. "Our partnerships with major software developers such as acclaimed newcomer Maxthon and others in the open source community are evidence of U3's continued success reaching out to software companies of all sizes. On the hardware front, the inclusion of U3 into new SanDisk product lines, and our new relationships with PQI and TwinMOS further ensure that consumers will be able to choose from a diverse selection of U3 smart drives on retail store shelves."

Purmal will speak at the Storage Visions Conference. Her panel, titled "Mobile CE Storage Products," will take place Saturday, Jan. 7 at 10:45 a.m. in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Room 246.

SanDisk's new U3 smart drive will be announced at its press conference on Thursday, Jan. 5.

U3 Smart Drives

U3 smart drives are easily recognizable by the U3 smart logo and are available from leading brands worldwide. In the U.S., U3 smart drives can be found in consumer electronics and office supply stores from BestBuy Geek Squad(R), Kingston(R)Technology Company, Memorex, SanDisk(R) and Verbatim(R). In Europe, U3 smart drives are available from Clever-Stuff disgo classic and Clever-Stuff busbi, Data Storage Advisors disk2go(R), Intuix, Kingston, Memorex, SanDisk and Verbatim. Taiwanese hardware partners PQI and Twin MOS and I-O DATA in Japan will begin shipping U3 smart drives this year.

About U3

U3 LLC of Redwood City, Calif., has developed an innovative platform to make U3 smart drives that host a "personal workspace" -- not only data and files, but U3 smart software programs, personal user preferences and the means for managing them. U3 smart drives transform a PC into a truly personalized computer, quickly, easily and securely, and exit transparently when done. U3, backed by USB flash drive market leaders M-Systems (NASDAQ:FLSH) and SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK), licenses its platform to USB drive manufacturers and provides its platform at no cost to software developers. For more information see www.U3.com.

U3 is a trademark of U3 LLC. Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners

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