Toshiba has announced that it has filed suit against several companies, including Imation, over DVD patents. The accusations surround DVD format specifications and standards accepted by the DVD Forum. Toshiba claims the companies infringed on patents by manufacturing or distributing recordable media without first establishing licensing agreements.
Imation on Wednesday announced it is shipping its M-Class and S-Class solid-state drives (SSDs) as stand-alone parts as well as in all-in-one SSD upgrade kits. Introduced at the start of the year, the upgrade kits include all users need to change their hard disk drives over to the more power-efficient and faster flash storage. The M-series SSDs use slower but less expensive multi-level cell memory, while the S-series drives have a single-level cell flash design.
Imation on Tuesday announced the addition of its Wireless Projection Link, allowing wireless control of digital projectors, along with M-Class and S-Class SSD drives and a complete SSD upgrade kits. Presenters can speed up their initial setup with the Wireless Projection Link, which consists of a USB dongle and base with antenna and is compatible with the majority of projection systems on the market.
Imation started its Thursday with a new set of Apollo hard drives that includes one of the first Wireless USB disks. Called the Apollo Pro WX, the device uses the near-wired speed of the ultra-wideband signal to duplicate the features of a normal USB hard drive without the need to string a cable for the roughly 30-foot range of the standard. The storage is as secure as physical USB, the company claims, and comes with a reportedly unique automatic backup utility that exploits the drive's ability to stay connected without necessarily using an extra USB port.
Imation on Monday announced the introduction of two new products to its range of solid-state drives (SSDs), with the PRO 7500 and the PRO 7000 PATA. The former represents the application of Imation's latest and most advanced SSD technology, with improvements to speed and storage capacity, while the latter's Parallel ATA interface allows older equipment to benefit from SSD technology.
Imation on Wednesday announced the release of a new Apollo portable hard drive with a 500GB capacity. Previously, the largest 2.5-inch Apollo HDD was available in a 320GB size, along with a 250GB and 160GB units. All four are just over a half-inch thick and weigh less than a half-pound. The only connection required is a USB 2.0 cable, which allows for data transfer at speeds up to 480Mbps as well as providing power to the drive.
Imation has acquired "substantially all" of XtremeMac's assets, according to a company announcement. The deal is said to be worth at least $9 million, divided between $7 million in cash and a remaining amount in assumed liabilities; Imation may additionally pay as much as $10 million over the course of three years, depending on how profitable the acquisition becomes. In any case the company does not expect the deal to substantially affect its fiscal 2008 results.
Imation is pushing the size of its flash drives downwards today with the Atom Flash, its smallest ever storage of the kind. The drive is only slightly longer than a paperclip and is small enough to be tied to another mobile device or a set of keys without being a burden. The Atom is also considered relatively advanced with an aluminum outer shell, a password protection feature, and recognition as a ReadyBoost memory cache for Windows Vista users who would rather use it as a supplement to a PC with little memory.
Imation kicked off the launch of a new storage line today with the Apollo portable drive. The storage designer plans to separate itself from others by producing an especially thin and light USB hard disk that measures half an inch thick and weighs about 0.35 pounds. Outside, the design is claimed to be durable but upscale with a brushed outside and chrome trim. Like most notebook-class external drives, the Apollo takes its power entirely from the USB port and lets travelers cut down on the number of power cords.
Imation has entered the burgeoning field of SSD storage with two sets of drives, designed in collaboration with Mtron. The first of these are the MOBI 3000s, SATA disks meant for the consumer market; these consist of 16 and 32GB 2.5-inch drives, as well as 16, 32 and 64GB 3.5-inch models. The drives are capable of reading at 100MBs, and writing at 80MBs; random access speed is just 0.1ms. Prices start at approximately $700.
Imation today unveiled its CES lineup and announced its intention to launch into the rapidly expanding solid-state drive business. Signing an agreement with Mtron, Imation says it has co-developed a new line of flash-based hard drives it says will be the world's fastest of its type. The SSD MOBI 3000 reads at an already quick 100 megabytes per second but is said to be more impressive with its 80 megabyte per second write speed. This performance is not just better than most flash drives but also bests fast traditional drives in many key areas such as OS boot time and tasks where constant disk access is important, such as working with large videos, Imation argues.
