Bangkok--Oct 6--HEWLETT PACKARD
Compact Disc ReWritable, or CD-RW, is the next generation in a long succession of CD technologies. Computer users now can use CD technology not just to store their data, but to erase and rewrite data over and over again on the same CD-RW disc. The ability to write, erase and rewrite on a medium that is based on such a widely used technology as CD radically changes how users can store, manipulate, interchange and use their data or digitized files. In fact, CD-RW has the potential to become the next universal data-interchange medium for computers, a position the 1.44MB 3.5-inch floppy disk has held since the late 1980s. In an era in which data production is increasing faster than hard-drive capacities, developers of CD technologies such as CD-RW are extending users' abilities to store, manipulate and share ever-greater amounts of data with the ease of 1.44MB floppy drivers.
Storage-market analysts today confirm that CD technology has become a ubiquitous tool for today's computing applications, and demand for CD products is growing at an impressive rate. Dataquest estimates that about 46.6 million CD drives were sold in 1996, up from about 45.9 million in 1995. Shipments of recordable CD, or CD-R, drives quadrupled from 1995 to 1996, when nearly 1 million drives were shipped.
Hewlett-Packard Company, working with other industry leaders, has paved the way for continued universal acceptance of CD technology through its support of CD-RW. HP played a principal role in the creation of MultiRead, an OSTA-approved specification that makes CD-RW media read- compatible with current CD-Recordable (CD-R) drives and future CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives(1). HP's leadership role in the development of MultiRead and compatibility testing for the specification -- which ensures that futues CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs can read the new CD-ReWritable media -- has helped establish CD-RW as a viable universal data-interchange solution for the next several years.
About HP
HP's Information Storage Group, which focuses on the rapidly growing extended-storage market, manufactures and sells information- storage products based on tape, magneto-optical and CD-RW technologies. HP storage solutions include digital-audio-tape (DAT) drives and digital- linear-tape (DLT) drives and libraries, minicartridge (QIC) tape drivers and software, CD-ReWriteable drives, and magneto-optical drives and jukeboxes. These products are sold through a variety of distribution channels under the HP SureStore and HP Colorado brand names, as well as to OEM customers.
HP is the official information-technology hardware and maintenance supplier to the 1998 World Cup soccer tournament.
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 120,500 employees and had revenue of $38.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year.
Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com. End.