Extends Product Family to QIC-3010, 3020 Formats

3M ANNOUNCES TR-2 AND TR-3 MINICARTRIDGES, TAKING TRAVAN TECHNOLOGY INTO
GIGABYTE TERRITORY

ST. PAUL, Minn. (June 20, 1995) -- 3M today announced its TR-2 and TR-3
minicartridges -- the second and third members of a family of new high
capacity tape products that incorporates the company's Travan technology.

The TR-2 minicartridge, a modified QIC-3010 cartridge, provides users with
800 MB of uncompressed storage capacity (1.6 GB compressed). The TR-3
minicartridge, the third step on the Travan migration path, is a modified
QIC-3020 cartridge that provides 1.6 GB of capacity (3.2 GB compressed).

The suggested list prices for TR-2 and TR-3 minicartridges are $42.15 and
$43.75 respectively. The products are expected to be available in the
third quarter this year through 3M's worldwide network of distributors and
resellers.

The Travan platform features a unique drive/minicartridge interface that is
included in a patent application filed by 3M. The Travan platform
optimizes available space in a 3.5-inch form factor housing. Minor
mechanical changes enable Travan drives to accept current QIC, QIC-Wide
and Travan minicartridges -- a critical need for users, given the
installed base of more than 200 million QIC-compatible minicartridges
worldwide.

The TR-2 and TR-3 minicartridges contain 750 feet of .315 inch
high-coercivity 900 oersted (Oe) gamma ferric oxide media. The TR-2 has a
data density of 22,125 flux transitions per inch (ftpi), while TR-3 stands
at 44,250 ftpi. The TR-2 and TR-3 minicartridge subsystems use a floppy
interface with respective transfer rates of 125 Kb/s for the TR-2 and 250
Kb/s for the TR-3.

Like the TR-1 minicartridge, 3M's new TR-2 and TR-3 products require no
changes in media formulation, and will use existing drive electronics and
head technology. The TR-1 minicartridge was commercialized in May and
provides users with 400 MB of uncompressed storage capacity, more than
double the capacity of the industry's leading QIC-80 minicartridge.

Effective Solution to Storage Limitations

"The information explosion -- epitomized by the growth in online services
and multimedia -- has created an insatiable demand for greater storage
capacity and performance," said Doug Olson, business development manager,
3M Data Storage Tape Technology Division.

"With the introduction of the TR-2 and TR-3 products, users now have access
to the next generation storage platform, to more than keep pace with
soaring hard disk capacities," Olson said.

In addition to keeping up with hard disk capacities, Travan technology will
enable the industry to better support emerging software applications like
Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) on the desktop and Windows 95
applications, he added.

"Travan technology should be welcome news to millions of PC users," said
Bill Frank, president of Augur Visions, a market research firm in Los
Altos, Calif.

"The Travan minicartridge provides the next leap forward for 3.5-inch QIC
drives, doubling capacities while preserving backward compatibility," said
Raymond Freeman Jr., president of Freeman Associates, Inc., a market
research firm in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Future Development Efforts

Storage industry leaders like 3M, Hewlett Packard's Colorado Memory Systems
Division, Conner Peripherals, Exabyte, Iomega, Rexon, AIWA, Pertec
Memories and Sony will continue to support future development of Travan
drive and recording formats to assure further expansion of the market for
tape-based applications.

Most Travan drives offer 2:1 data compression, which doubles native
capacity. Each point along the Travan migration path represents about a
twofold increase above all previous capacity points. The Travan platform
is fully backward compatible with the installed base of QIC
minicartridges.

3M also hopes to introduce a Travan TR-4 minicartridge with a capacity of 4
GB (uncompressed) by the end of 1995.

Data cartridge technology, invented and patented by 3M, is the world's most
popular desktop tape backup technology and boasts an installed base of
more than 12 million drives, with three million drives shipped in 1994
alone, demonstrating the rapid market growth of QIC technology.

3M is the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of branded
minicartridges. For more information on minicartridge technology, please
contact 3M at (800) 888-1889, ext. 33.

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