COLORADO MEMORY SYSTEMS AND READ-RITE CORPORATION TEAM TO QUADRUPLE
CAPACITY OF QIC MINICARTRIDGE DRIVES

LOVELAND, CO--JUNE 1 ,1993 -- In a joint announcement, Colorado Memory
Systems, the leading supplier of quarter-inch minicartridge (QIC) backup
systems, and Read-Rite Corporation, a supplier of advanced thin-film heads
and head-stack assemblies, announced that they are cooperating in the
development of magneto-resistive thin-film heads for quarter-inch
minicartridge (QIC) tape drives.

According to officials of both companies, the development of thin-film
heads is a major technology breakthrough that will allow implementation of
the new QIC-500 standard. This new formatting standard will quadruple the
capacity of existing quarter-inch minicartridges, providing 500 megabytes
of storage capacity (without data compression) while assuring
compatibility with earlier QIC-40 and QIC-80 drives.

Read-Rite officials explained that the company is supplying
magneto-resistive (MR) thin-film heads based on internal technology
developed over the last several years. "The new single-channel tape head
for the QIC drive records at an areal data density of 7 million bits per
square inch of tape," said Dan O'Kane, Director of Engineering for
Read-Rite's Tape Head Business Unit. Greg Fenner, General Manager of the
Tape Head Business Unit, said, "This tape head has demonstrated
outstanding magnetic performance and superior wear characteristics
compared with the older ferrite and metal head technologies."

Rick Turley, Vice President of Marketing for Colorado Memory Systems,
explained that the new QIC standard is another milestone in the
well-defined growth path for quarter-inch technology. "As hard-disk
capacities continue to increase, quarter-inch tape technology will respond
with advances like this that will keep it well ahead of users' backup
needs." Turley went on to say that the development of thin-film recording
heads is a key element in achieving a low-cost quarter-inch minicartridge
drive with a half gigabyte capacity. "By integrating Read-Rite's thinfilm
technology into our proven Jumbo drive, we will be able to provide users
of high-end PCs and small LANs with a backup solution that is much more
affordable than previous options," he said.

Colorado Memory Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard.
Headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, the company manufacturers a wide
range of QIC-compatible tape backup systems and accessories and is the
leading supplier of drives in the mini data cartridge class.

Read-Rite Corporation was founded in 1983. Headquartered in Milpitas,
California, the company manufactures products here, as well as in Thailand
and Malaysia. Read-Rite's joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Industries,
Read-Rite SMI Corporation, is located near Osaka, Japan. The company has a
sales and customer support office in Singapore.

Colorado Memory Systems Inc
800 South Taft Ave, Loveland, CO 80537
303-669-8000;  Fax: 303-667-0921

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