Iomega Helps Businesses Safeguard Data From Y2K Computer Disasters With Its Y2K Software Suite - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, August 30, 1999

Iomega Corporation, a leader in smart, portable storage, Tuesday announced its Y2K Software Suite -- designed to help small businesses and PC-users diagnose and prepare their PC for potential Year 2000 problems.

This easy-to-use software provides a simple way to safeguard computer systems against potential disruptions and data loss. Iomega's Y2K Software Suite includes a user-friendly, informative step-by-step instruction guide that takes users through a program to back-up their important information, evaluate and update their PC to help ensure it is Y2K ready, and help them protect their most sensitive files from data corruption.

According to the National Foundation of Independent Business (NFIB), well over one million American small businesses have not prepared themselves for the "millennium bug," which is the potential loss or corruption of data that can occur when the PC cannot properly handle dates in the year 2000. A report issued by the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion stated that small businesses have not done enough to prepare for potential Year 2000 technology problems.

During a press conference Tuesday, U.S. Senator and Y2K advocate Robert Bennett (R-Utah) joined David Henry, Iomega Corporation's Vice President and General Manager for Zip, Jaz and Clik! Product Management to announce Iomega's initiative to help small businesses prepare for Y2K.

"Iomega is excited to bring this robust software suite to small businesses and home PC owners to help educate them and protect their data from potential Y2K computer disasters" said Henry. "The tools and information Iomega provides help PC users have a safe path to backup their data before the end of the year and have peace of mind knowing their important information is safe come January 1, 2000, or in any other situation."

The Y2K Software Suite includes IomegaWare 2.0, Norton Zip Rescue (NZR) and Symantec's Norton 2000 BIOS Test and Fix. Iomega recommends that PC users first install the Y2K Software Suite on their hard drive, and then follow the easy 3-steps ... backup, update and protect.

Backup

Since the most important and valuable part of the PC is the information stored in it, it is critical to protect it. By using Iomega's 1-Step Backup, small businesses and PC owners can backup and restore their data files. Since Iomega offers a complete line of storage solutions, including Jaz 2GB disks, Zip 100MB and 250MB disks, and Clik! 40MB disks, businesses will know that their data is safe.

Update

Anytime a small business or home PC user updates a PC, there is a risk of problems. Iomega recommends creating NZR disks to save hardware settings and system files. In the event of a system disaster, the PC can be restarted and many common problems repaired with the NZR disk.

Small businesses and home PC users should check their PCs' hardware and software for Y2K compliance and apply any necessary patches or upgrades. Symantec's Norton 2000 BIOS Test and Fix determines the status of the PCs' real time clock and BIOS, alerting PC owners to potential date calculation Y2K problems. Where possible and if necessary, the utility applies a patch that fixes the PCs clock and BIOS.

"We're excited to partner with Symantec on this project," said Keith Slankard, director of global marketing, Iomega Corporation. "Symantec is a world leader in utility software for business and personal computing. Symantec's Norton 2000 product makes it easy for customers to evaluate their personal data files, spreadsheets and databases for Y2K date-calculation problems."

Once the hardware is Y2K ready, PC users need to determine if the operating system requires an update. Businesses running a Windows Operating System or other Microsoft products should run Microsoft Year 2000 Product Analyzer on each PC system. The analyzer inventories Microsoft products on each system, reporting their status and provides links to any recommended updates.

Also, included with the Y2K Software Suite are direct hotlinks to the Y2K sites of the top 10 software developers. These sites provide small businesses and home PC users with helpful tools to diagnose potential Y2K problems and will be updated regularly throughout the year:

-- Microsoft Corp. http://www.microsoft.com/y2k/ -- Symantec Corp. http://www.symantec.com/region/reg_eu/y2k/year2000.html -- Intuit Inc. http://www.intuit.com/corporate/year2000/ -- Adobe Systems, Inc. http://www.adobe.com/newsfeatures/year2000/prodsupport.html -- Corel Corp. http://www.corel.com/year2000/index.html -- Lotus Development Corp. http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/newsviews -- Novell, Inc. http://www.novell.com/year2000/index.html -- Autodesk, Inc. http://www.autodesk.com/support/resource/year2000/2000text.htm -- The Learning Company http://www.learningco.com/y2k/default.htm -- Peachtree Software, Inc. http://www.peachtree.com/year2000/

Protect

Small businesses and home PC users can then use Iomega's QuikSync software to automatically maintain a version history of important date-sensitive files. If data corruption or other problems occur, users can return to a safe copy. Users should review important files that may contain any date-related calculations. These include files such as spreadsheets, calendars, project management, time management, financial applications, time and billing, and so on. By protecting data on a regular basis, businesses can go into the New Year with a higher degree of confidence that their financial, client-related and personal documents will be intact.