Sony Now Shipping AIT-5 Products

New Drives Deliver 400GB of Native Capacity per Cartridge and Backwards Compatibility

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 7, 2006 – Sony Electronics is now shipping its fifth generation of Advanced Intelligent Tape drives, automation solutions and data media to OEMs as well as commercial and OEM distribution channel partners.

With a compact 3.5-inch drive form-factor, AIT-5 technology is the industry’s first tape-based technology to offer up to 400GB of native capacity (up to 1.04TB with 2.6:1 compression based on the ALDC algorithm) in a single 8mm media cartridge.

AIT-5 drives are read and write backward compatible with standard read/write as well as WORM AIT-4, AIT-3Ex and AIT-3 media, so users can smoothly migrate to the higher capacity of AIT-5 storage solutions without losing access to, or compatibility with, data recorded on these prior generations of media.

For an added level of data protection, AIT-5 drives are multi-functional and support Write Once, Read Many capability when using AIT WORM media. Both standard read/write and WORM media cartridges are also now shipping to all channels.

“A full range of both OEM and Sony-branded AIT-5 products are now available, including internal drives, external drives, as well as desktop and slim 1U and 2U rack-mountable automation solutions,” said Alan Sund, Sony Electronics’ general manager for tape storage. “The addition of AIT-5 solutions to our lineup sets a new standard for capacity, reliability and value.”

Sony has worked closely with independent software vendors to test and certify compatibility of AIT-5 based products to ensure wide support and full interoperability with industry-leading backup and archival applications.