IBM announces 1GB Microdrive |
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| SAN JOSE, CA. . .June 20, 2000. . . IBM is tripling the capacity -- but not the size -- of the world's smallest hard disk drive, paving the way for a new generation of "go-anywhere" pervasive-computing devices and applications. | |
| Packing one gigabyte (GB) of data
storage capacity on to a disk the size of an American quarter, IBM's newest Microdrive can
hold up to 1,000 high-resolution photographs, a thousand 200-page novels or nearly 18
hours of high-quality digital audio music. The 1 GB Microdrive brings affordable
high-capacity, high-performance data storage to a wide variety of handheld electronic
products -- including digital cameras, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs),
portable Internet music players and video cameras. It can also serve as a data-exchange accessory to notebook computers, desktop computers and printers. Future applications may include wearable computers, electronic books, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, smart phones and electronic wallets |
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| "Using the new Microdrive, a company's
entire multimedia product catalog -- as well as a suite of powerful e-business
applications -- can be carried around in a shirt pocket," said Michael Kuptz,
director, IBM Microdrive Products. "Such vast capacity in such a compact size will
dramatically change the way information technology and consumer electronics devices are
designed and used, helping accelerate the worldwide adoption of pervasive computing."
Underscoring the dramatic pace of development in the storage industry, IBM introduced the world's first gigabyte-capacity disk drive, the 3380, in 1980. It was the size of a refrigerator, weighed 550 pounds (about 250 kg) and cost $40,000. The Microdrive announced today is smaller than a matchbook, weighs less than an ounce and will be available for less than $500. Limited quantities of the 1 GB Microdrive will begin shipping in July to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors. Retail shipment is scheduled for September. Customers that have designed or plan to design devices compatible with the new Microdrive include Acer, Casio Computer Co., Ltd., the IBM Personal Systems Group, Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Hewlett-Packard, i2Go, Minolta Co., Ltd., Nikon Corporation, Psion, RICOH Co., Ltd., and Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. |
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d-store will be one of the first to have the IBM 1 GB Microdrive in stock tentative shipping date mid-August |
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