OSTA LAUNCHES HIGH PERFORMANCE OPTICAL
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE

High Performance Committee Created to Promote the Growth of Advanced Optical Storage Technologies Through Specifications and Market Awareness

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 12, 2000 – The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) today announced that it has expanded the scope of one of its committees, now chartered to promote optical technology and solutions for high-performance storage and archival applications. The High Performance Committee, formerly the Magneto-Optical Committee, will work to address issues involved with using technologies such as Magneto-Optical (MO), Write-Once Read-Many times (WORM), holography, multi-layer, and gray-scale recording to meet the growing needs of high performance data storage applications.

The committee was reformed to give existing and new high performance optical technologies a forum within OSTA and to ensure that the Association works to protect user investments in optical media of all types.

"Optical storage continues to play an important role in the high performance data storage marketplace," said Ray Freeman, facilitator of OSTA. "By recognizing advanced optical technologies as they emerge, OSTA can extend its efforts to cover all writable optical systems.""Optical storage technology is not static and we need to stay in front of emerging technologies," said Dan Dalton, director of optical product management at Fujitsu Computer Products of America and chairman of the High Performance Committee. "I am proud to chair a group of distinguished representatives from leading innovators in optical storage in launching this initiative for OSTA."

Representatives from Fujitsu, IBM, Imation, Maxoptix, Plasmon, Pulstec, Sony, and Verbatim currently comprise the committee. Initially, the committee’s objectives are to:

• Provide a forum for discussion of new developments in optical storage technologies and applications;
  
• Promote the use and acceptance of high-performance optical technologies;
  
• Inform current and prospective users about high-performance optical technologies by creating content for the OSTA.org Web site;
  
• Develop product class and compatibility roadmaps;
  
• Ensure that all companies developing or producing advanced optical technologies are invited to participate.

With the growth of Internet commerce, advanced medical imaging, telecommunications, multimedia business and consumer applications, the demand for removable, long-life, high-capacity, near-line storage is exploding. New optical drive and library technologies are emerging for data warehousing, medical, financial and legal records retention, server backup, high-resolution video capture, Internet storage and online transaction processing as well as permanent archiving of irreplaceable data, heightening the importance of this committee.

OSTA will host its next quarterly meeting September 18-21, 2000 at Gate City Hall in Osaki, Tokyo. Companies wishing to participate in the High Performance Committee are encouraged to contact OSTA at 805/963-3853.

OSTA Background

The Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) was incorporated as an international trade association in 1992 to promote the use of recordable optical technologies and products. The organization’s membership includes optical product manufacturers and resellers from three continents, representing more than 85 percent of worldwide writable optical product shipments. They work to shape the future of the industry through regular meetings of CD/DVD, file interchange, market development, high performance and planning committees. Interested companies worldwide are invited to join the organization and participate in its programs by contacting an OSTA representative at +1 805/963-3853, by fax +1 805/962-1541 or by addressing its Web site at www.osta.org.

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