Storage: Fujifilm Packs 200 Megabytes Into New Floppy Disk: HiFD Stores Audio, Video, Image and Graphic Files. Technology That Made Zip Disks Possible Also Behind Next-Generation Floppy - Company Business and Marketing - Product Information

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Oct 12, 1998

For consumers looking to "break free" from the confines of traditional storage media, Fujifilm has upped the ante once again with the 3.5-inch 200MB Fujifilm High-Capacity Floppy Disk (HiFD) for Sony's new HiFD drive. Ideal for today's data storage needs, the cavernous storage capacity and lightning-quick transfer rate (3.6MB/second) of the Fujifilm HiFD disk makes it quick and easy for users to store large text files, CD-quality music and digital video on a single HiFD floppy disk. And, for millions of consumers with files stored on standard 3.5-inch disks (2HD, 2DD), the HiFD system is fully read/write backward compatible.

The secret behind HiFD is Fujifilm's exclusive ATOMM technology, a derivative of the company's world-renowned film coating process. Over the years, ATOMM has led to numerous watershed products in the data storage industry, such as the 100MB Zip disk, DLTtape IV and DDS-3 data cartridge tapes and now the 200MB HiFD disk.

Ideal for handling downloads from the Internet, multimedia presentations and high-resolution digital images, a single 200MB Fujifilm HiFD Floppy Disk can store:

o The equivalent of nearly 140 standard 1.44MB floppy disks o 100,000 pages of text o 100 high-resolution JPEG digital images o 22 minutes of CD-quality audio o 20 minutes of full motion MPEG1 video

"Due to the rapid increase in the processing power of personal computers and the size of data handled, consumers are demanding an efficient and reliable high-capacity data storage product to replace their current 1.44MB floppies," said Steve Solomon, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Computer Products Division, Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. "With HiFD, Fujifilm has delivered a data storage product with a maximum transfer rate of 3.6MB/second and a storage capacity unparalleled by existing floppies. This means users can store large files, such as digital audio and full-motion video, on a single HiFD disk. Fujifilm strongly believes that HiFD has the potential to be a benchmark storage media product, much like the 3.5-inch floppy disk when it was introduced more than 15 years ago."

The new HiFD system combines Fujifilm's film coating and magnetic media recording expertise with Sony's highly acclaimed drive hardware. HiFD's super storage capacity was made possible by ATOMM (an acronym for Advanced super Thin-layer and high-Output Metal Media) technology, a unique dual- layer coating system invented by Fujifilm. The key features of an ATOMM coated storage product are its two special layers on each recording surface. The first is a remarkably thin upper layer of magnetic particles that allows for superior high-density recording. This layer is simultaneously coated over a second layer made of non-magnetic compound that provides durability.

Through the development of a new structure in which head loading is done "softly," wear and tear on the HiFD recording surface is dramatically reduced. Also, via a powerful error correction scheme, high data reliability is ensured. Furthermore, the disk cartridge uses a newly designed shutter that prevents dust from entering the disk.

Shipping by the end of November, 1998, the Fujifilm HiFD disk carries a suggested retail price of $13.99. FMI: www.fujifilm.com.

Headquartered in Elmsford, NY, Fujifilm Computer Products is an expert in data storage media and a leading provider of innovative, technologically advanced and reliable data storage products featuring the proprietary ATOMM technology. Fujifilm Computer Products manufactures and markets a complete line of high quality computer products providing maximum reliability and dependability, including: 3.5-inch floppy disks, 4mm and 8mm data tapes, DLTtape, Zip and 1/4-inch data cartridges, rewritable magneto-optical disks and CD-Recordable and Rewritable discs.