Verbatim Adds Half-Tbyte Drive

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Verbatim Americas, LLC, a global leader in digital storage solutions, announced today the world’s first half-Terabyte 2.5” Portable Hard Disk Drive (HDD) featuring an industry standard 9.5mm Z-height drive. The PDA-sized drive joins Verbatim’s highly rated SmartDisk line of portable HDDs, which currently offer capacities ranging from 120GB to 320GB. Scheduled to begin shipping in Q2 2008, the sleek new HDD will enable Windows® and Mac® users to add up to 500GB of removable capacity to their laptop or desktop systems for less than US$300.00.

The demand for higher-capacity portable storage devices at both the consumer and corporate levels is being driven by the growing number of users who are creating and downloading volumes of digital content. IDC research shows that the digital universe — information that is either created, captured, or replicated in digital form — will increase from 281 Exabytes in 2007 to nearly 1,800 Exabytes in 2011, or 10 times that produced in 2006. Between 2008 and 2011, the compound annual growth rate is expected to be almost 60 percent. In addition to the higher capacity requirements, today’s more mobile consumers and businesses are becoming more reliant on moving their digital content from one system to another. As a result, IDC sees greater opportunities for smaller devices such 2.5” HDDs.

Verbatim’s 500GB 2.5” SmartDisk HDD meets the capacity, portability and convenience these users need with a simple, easy solution for storing, enjoying, sharing and protecting their music, photos, video and personal files wherever they go. Business people can use the drive to share files between co-worker and partner office systems or to transfer files between office and home systems.

“Being able to add half a Terabyte of storage to a PC or Mac with such a small, easy to carry device is a new milestone in the portable storage industry,” said Charles Klinker, Verbatim Director of Marketing for SmartDisk products. “Imagine the convenience of being able to store, transport and backup all of your digital content without having to span disks or carry multiple storage solutions.”

Verbatim Corp. Inc.