FUJIFILM BEGINS LTO ULTRIUM Gen 4 MEDIA PRODUCTION

First midrange drive format to offer encryption with 1.6 TB compressed capacity

Kleve, GERMANY, April 25, 2007 — FUJIFILM Recording Media GmbH, the leading provider of midrange data storage media, today announced it has been notified as one of  the first manufacturers in the world to be qualified by the LTO Technology Provider Companies (TPC) to immediately begin mass production of Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium Generation 4 data cartridges. The Fujifilm LTO Ultrium Gen 4 cartridges will be available worldwide on April 30 th.

“The popularity of the LTO Ultrium format is driven by the technologies developed by the members of the TPC and the support of the engineers helping deliver storage media,” said Cindy Grossman, Vice President, Tape Storage Systems, IBM Corp. (a founding partner of the TPC.) “Together with our partners we continue to deliver the capacity and reliability needed for increasingly aggressive storage and regulatory demands.”
 
Fujifilm LTO Ultrium Gen 4 media will be the first midrange product to use Fujifilm NANOCUBIC thin-film coating process to reach the higher capacity and quality levels currently only found in enterprise-class storage systems.

"The LTO Gen 4 technology introduces encryption capability which increases the performance value of tape storage in terms of security, and reinforces its importance as a reliable high-performance storage solution,” said Wolfgang May, Director European Sales & Marketing, FUJIFILM Recording Media GmbH.  “We are pleased to lead the industry in developing the next generation of LTO media with the reliability and capacities of our NANOCUBIC technology.”

Fujifilm continues to bring its globally recognized tape engineering and manufacturing expertise to the storage market with this latest generation of LTO media.  The Fujifilm LTO Ultrium Gen 4 media will feature 800 gigabytes (GB) native capacity and transfer rates of up to 120 megabytes (MB) per second (depending on drive and data type).

Encrypted For Security & Compliance Peace of Mind 
LTO Gen 4 systems will introduce for the first time to midrange tape storage the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit encryption algorithms to keep data secure. The U.S. Government mandated 256-bit encryption is qualified for classified – even “Top Secret” – information. (See http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/cnssp_15_fs.pdf) The hardware-based AES 256-bit encryption capability of the new Gen 4 format offers another level of security during storage and transporting of sensitive information.

The addition of hardware encryption compliments the WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) capability that already securely maintains data integrity on the removable format.  WORM functionality first debuted in LTO Ultrium generation 3 products, providing a cost-effective means for storing data in a non-rewriteable format to help address compliance requirements.

Meeting Tough LTO Compliance Verification

LTO technology is a powerful, scalable, adaptable open tape format developed and continuously enhanced by technology providers HP, IBM Corporation and Quantum Corporation to help address the growing demands of data protection in the midrange to enterprise-class server environments.

The TPC provides very stringent format specifications for both cartridge and drive manufacturers.  This insures the quality and consistency for maintaining tape format interchangeability.  Testing is completed through a unique format verification program which is independently administered and executed by a third party organization, and approved by the members of the TPC.

By testing LTO Ultrium drives for format compliance through the testing of cartridges only, the program simplifies the verification process while protecting proprietary drive design and technology. Information on LTO tape technology, product roadmaps and general information on the format, go to www.ultrium.com.

Fujifilm LTO Gen 4 media will be available through approved Fujifilm resellers. 

LTO Program Roadmap

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NOTE: Linear Tape-Open, LTO and Ultrium are trademarks of HP, IBM and Quantum in the US and other countries.

FUJIFILM BLU-RAY DVD MEDIA AVAILABLE FOR EUROPEAN MARKET IN JUNE

Kleve, Germany, May 25th, 2006 – Fuji Magnetics GmbH, a subsidiary of the leading global imaging and information technologies company, today announced that Fujifilm-branded Blu-ray media would be available in the European marketplace this June. 

Increasing data volume on personal computers and the steady, continuing growth of high definition (HD) television has accelerated consumer demand for higher capacity optical recording devices for storing all this digital data.  The Fujifilm Blu-ray discs will be available with 25GB storage capacity, in both write-once (BD-R) and re-writable (BD-RE) formats, which can be used in Blu-ray drives with 1-2X writing speed.

“The introduction of several Blu-ray based consumer products – including internal PC drives, set-top box and interactive gaming consoles and recorders will increasingly push demand for the new, higher capacity media,” noted Wolfgang H. May, Director European Sales & Marketing, Fuji Magnetics GmbH. “The success of new recording technologies depends significantly on the availability of affordable, reliable media and our scientists and engineers are already working to perfect next-generation storage solutions, long before they hit the market.”

The Fujifilm high-capacity Blu-ray optical media will be available through key Fujifilm reseller partners.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

FUJIFILM TECHNOLOGY KEY TO IBM DEMO OF MULTIPLE TERABYTE STORAGE

IBM Researchers Set World Record For Magnetic Tape Density
Using Fujifilm NANOCUBIC Technology, Barium-Ferrite Particles

 Kleve, Germany, May 17, 2006 – Fuji Photo Film Co, Ltd., a global leader in information and imaging technology and products, today announced that IBM researchers utilized advanced Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology incorporating a new barium-ferrite (BaFe) particle to demonstrate the potential of multiple-terabyte storage capacity on a single data tape cartridge.

IBM researchers were able to demonstrate the ability to store 6.67 billion bits (Gigabits) per square inch of data tape using the linear recording format – more than 15 times the recording density of current LTO Gen 3 data tape.  The demonstration points to the possibility of creating a single tape cartridge capable of holding eight terabytes in the future. 

IBM researchers combined advances in IBM technology with Fujifilm next-generation magnetic tape innovation using smaller barium-ferrite magnetic particles.  IBM chose Fujifilm because the company’s NANOCUBIC technology offered the highest recording density with the highest signal-to-noise ratio and resolution. 

In addition, the Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology utilizes a cost-effective, dual-layer particulate process for creating the media, which is more commercially viable than other systems such as evaporated metal or sputtering techniques. Because of this, advanced Fujifilm tape media can be produced using existing manufacturing equipment and processes.

"The successful development of the new barium-ferrite tape was essential to extending dual-coat technology and achieve this data density milestone," said Spike Narayan, senior manager of advanced technology concepts at IBM's Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California, and manager of the research group that performed the world-record data-density demonstration.  "Our researchers worked closely with the Fuji Photo Film engineers in Japan by evaluating several formulations of their tapes and helping them refine and zero-in on the right blend that exhibited the necessary high-density storage characteristics."

Barium-ferrite is a naturally stable crystalline particle that does not corrode or change chemically over time, making it an optimal particle for next-generation tape storage media.  The unique Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology coats the barium-ferrite particles in a very uniform manner (with thickness variation of less than 10 percent across the length of the tape), resulting in a much smoother magnetic surface. 

“Our research showed the great promise of the hexagon-shaped barium-ferrite particle for creating production class multiple terabyte storage media,” noted Norio Shibata, General Manager, Recording Media Laboratories, Recording Media Products Division, Research & Development Management Headquarters, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.  “IBM’s ability to demonstrate actually recording density levels of nearly 6.7 Gigabits per square inch on our next generation NANOCUBIC media confirms this as leading technology for future media and allows us to move from the labs to the product development stage.”

A uniform dispersion of magnetic material is extremely important to the quality of a magnetic media – and even more so as capacities are increased.  Fujifilm NANOCUBIC dispersion technology provided improvements that allowed the barium-ferrite particles to be well isolated while creating a magnetic layer of only 65nm.  The combination of small, uniformly dispersed particles and a uniformly coated thin layer result in higher signal-to-noise ratios and resolution – critical for maximizing the capability of Giant Magneto-Resistive (GMR) heads, which represent one of the advances in next-generation recording technology.

Fujifilm announced first-generation NANOCUBIC technology in 2002, which helped IBM in the development of IBM SystemStorage™ Enterprise Tape Cartridge 3592, the first product to ship incorporating Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology. Since then, other leading drive manufacturers have announced products utilizing NANOCUBIC technology.

The overall demand for tape products continues to be strong.  Storage analysts’ estimates suggest that there will be roughly 57 million enterprise and midrange data cartridges shipped in 2006 – enough to store nearly 8,500 petabytes of data. In addition to traditional data storage applications, the professional video market is adopting IT data storage technologies for the increasingly large data video files.  A single hour of uncompressed high definition broadcast creates a digital file roughly 500 GB in size.

"With data storage demands exploding, in part driven by compliance and other issues, the capabilities of our research and development teams in Japan have been a great asset to our partners and customers," said Wolfgang H. May, Director of European Sales & Marketing, Fuji Magnetics GmbH. "By working closely together with end users, partners and technology companies like IBM, we can not only help support today's storage solutions, but also help our customers understand what future technologies may bring."

IBM selected the Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology for use in the IBM 3592 tape cartridge for its ability to deliver the highest recording density in a linear recording format system. The 3592 cartridge has a current native capacity of up to 500GB (with 1.5 terabytes possible using 3:1 compression), a native drive data transfer rate of up to 100MB per second and is designed to provide a storage life of more than 30 years.

About NANOCUBIC

Fujifilm engineers designed the process for NANOCUBIC technology to take advantage of existing manufacturing processes, allowing for great advances in capacity utilizing current assets.   The company continues to advance particle science, the dispersion and thickness of the magnetic layer and precision necessary for creating future generation magnetic recording media that offer:

1. Higher Resolution: NANOCUBIC technology employs an advanced precision coating process that can uniformly control a very thin magnetic layer currently at 65 nanometers (with only 10 percent variation for length of tape) which maintains higher resolution;
2. Higher Signal to Noise Ratio: Fujifilm scientists identified hexagon-shaped barium-ferrite magnetic particles as having the smaller size, higher coercivity and low noise needed to produce the high signal-to-noise ratio required for high density recording media; and
3. Superior Storage Performance:  Superior archival and reliability performance, a critical requirement for enterprise system users, is achieved through the combination of the development of a new binder which provides stable chemical and physical performance and particles that provide stable chemical performance.
4. Mass Production Capability: This advanced magnetic tape was designed to maximize efficiencies and yields of current manufacturing systems. Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology does not require any significant changes to existing tape coating equipment or processes, as would be necessary with production techniques such as sputtering or metal evaporation.

Fujifilm was the first Japan domestic producer of computer tape in 1965, and has more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing enterprise class back-up tape for the computer industry. The company’s ATOMM technology, introduced in 1992, resulted in such breakthrough products as Zip® disks, DLTtape® IV, Super DLTtape® and LTO Ultrium data cartridges. With its higher recording density and superior performance and reliability, Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology is expected to enable several next-generation products in the near future for consumer, mid-range and enterprise applications. 

TotalStorage is a trademark of IBM.
Zip is a trademark of Iomega Corp.
DLTtape is a registered trademark of Quantum Corporation.
LTO is a trademark of Hewlett Packard, IBM and Quantum Corporation.

FUJIFILM BLU-RAY MEDIA AVAILABLE IN SPRING 2006

Kleve , Germany , March 9th, 2006 – Fuji Magnetics GmbH announced today that FUJIFILM-branded Blu-ray media will be available in spring 2006. The new discs will be available in 25GB storage capacities both in write-once and re-writable formats, which can be used on BD drives with 1-2X writing speed.

“2006 is the year that the FIFA World Cup will be held in Germany . This is one of the most important events in Europe for driving HD broadcasting. Since late 2005, some TV stations have started HD broadcasting and many end users are now purchasing large display flat panel TV sets to enjoy HD programs. In addition to this, Hollywood will introduce many movies in HD format this year, which is guaranteed to stimulate the demand for HD. However, HD program data is too large to store on today’s DVDs and market demand for larger optical discs is getting increasingly stronger.” noted Go Miyazaki , Director of Sales , Fuji Magnetics GmbH . “FUJIFILM is a leading company in the recordable media industry and continues to lead the field in the introduction of new, high quality media formats to support end users. The success of new recording technologies depends on the availability of affordable, reliable media and our engineers are already working to perfect next generation storage solutions, long before they even hit the market.”

FUJIFILM launched cartridge type rewritable Blu-ray discs (23.3GB) into the Japanese market in 2003. To meet the end users’ needs, FUJIFILM will introduce non-cartridge type (easy to use) Blu-ray discs with larger capacity (25GB) into the market, which conform to the latest copy protection system AACS (Advanced Access Content System).

<Characteristics of FUJIFILM Blu-ray discs>

Strong Hard-coat protection layer: Newly developed hard-coated cover layer will protect discs from scratches and abrasions. Even without cartridges, reliable and durable data storage is ensured.

Highly sensitive data recording layer: Blu-ray discs have the highest recording density of all optical disc formats. FUJIFILM Blu-ray discs, both –R and –RE, offer safe and reliable recording by utilizing a highly sensitive data recording layer.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.
Product design is subject to change without notice.

FUJIFILM BLU-RAY, HD DVD MEDIA AVAILABLE IN SUMMER 2006

Germany , Kleve , January 12th, 2006 – Fuji Magnetics GmbH today announced that Fujifilm branded Blu-ray and HD DVD media will be available by summer 2006. Prototypes of new Fujifilm HD DVD and Blu-ray media was on display at the Fujifilm booth at CES 2006 (Center Hall, N101/102) in Las Vegas, U.S.A.

“Consumers are driving demand for interactive gaming and entertainment applications that require enormous storage capacity,” noted Go Miyazaki, Director of Sales,

Fuji Magnetics GmbH. “Fujifilm coating technology will ensure the precision and quality of signal strength in these new media formats. The success of new recording technologies depends on availability of affordable, reliable media and our scientists are already working to perfect next generation storage solutions, long before they hit the market.”

With mainstream adoption of high definition (HD) content, television sets and recording devices, consumers and retailers will need to understand how new technologies will handle the expanding size of digitized files. For example, a two-hour program in HD creates a digital file roughly 15-25 Gigabytes in size, or the equivalent of more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV.

Fujifilm research and development teams in Japan and the United States are building on internal expertise and capital to develop all types of optical media. Most critical to future optical media technology will be:

• Dye coating advancements .
  Optical media is able to record information through a combination of dyes, coatings and binder components. Only through leading chemical knowledge and manufacturing expertise can a vendor produce this precise product with durability and performance at a competitive cost. In 2003, Fujifilm unveiled its OXOLIFE dye coating, bringing these oxonol-based discs to market with Philips in 2004. Read more about Fujifilm’s dye coating manufacturing expertise at http://www.fujifilm.com/tech/TechStoreOptical.jsp.
• Thin-film coating precision/advanced polymers .
  Fujifilm has perfected the craft of applying layers of material down to the nano-scale level. Engineers continue to evolve the precise process through years of manufacturing all types of media including motion picture and 35mm film, enterprise grade data storage media and small, consumer storage advances such as the Zip disk and advances in current CD and DVD discs.

Fujifilm high-capacity Blu-ray and HD DVD optical media will be available through key Fujifilm reseller partners.

For more information on Fujifilm products, please go to www.fuji-magnetics.com.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.