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Imation Adds 'Infinite Mobility' to Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System

Age of Conan Exclusive Collectors Edition Officially Revealed

MediaCart, Microsoft and Wakefern Team Up to Deliver Next-Generation Digital Grocery Shopping and Ad Experience

EMC Unveils Symmetrix DMX-4 SSD Storage System

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Imation Adds 'Infinite Mobility' to Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System

OAKDALE, Minn., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Imation Corp. (NYSE:IMN) , a worldwide leader in removable data storage media, today introduced the Imation Odyssey(TM) Mobile USB Adapter, enabling anytime data exchange and access. An accessory for the Imation Odyssey removable hard disk solution, the Mobile USB Adapter delivers "infinite mobility" to data stored on an Odyssey cartridge without the use of a docking station, providing small businesses and home offices with an easy, compact and portable solution for fast data access on the go.

"We've extended the portability of our award-winning Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System with a small, mobile, yet secure device for quick, easy access when and where you need it," said Keith Schwartz, North America sales and marketing, Imation Corp. "Business users who are on-the-go want the confidence and reliability that the Odyssey system provides, and look to Imation to stay ahead of technology. We've done just that by harnessing the power of Odyssey and enabling mobile plug-and-play data exchange."

The Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System makes it easy for small businesses and home office users to secure, protect and access data. With the Odyssey Mobile USB Adapter, users benefit from the small, compact design for easy transport of files and quick data access from any Odyssey cartridge anywhere they need it. The snap on/off mechanism easily connects to an Odyssey cartridge, enabling straight-forward data access and read/write compatibility. The Mobile USB Adapter functions with all Odyssey cartridges regardless of capacity, allowing simple data storage, retrieval and sharing.

"IDC believes the worldwide market for removable hard disk drives will surpass 3 million units and $500 million over the next five years," said Robert Amatruda, research director at IDC. "Small customers need access to their data anytime or anyplace, and Imation's Odyssey drive with its Mobile USB Adapter offers greater flexibility to increasingly mobile customers."

The high performance Mobile USB Adapter transfers data at up to 32MB/second with a life expectancy of more than 5,000 insertions or removals. Additionally, an easy-to-read blue LED indicates power and read/write activity in the lightweight, ultra-portable device.

Imation's Odyssey Mobile USB Adapter will be available in February for a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $29.99. Odyssey removable hard disk cartridges contain a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive and are available in 40GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and 250GB capacities.

For additional information about Imation's Mobile USB adapter of the Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System, go to http://www.imation.com/odyssey.

Source: PRNewswire

Age of Conan Exclusive Collectors Edition Officially Revealed

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Funcom and Eidos today revealed that an exceptional Age of Conan Collectors Edition will be available when the highly anticipated MMO launches in March. This unique and limited edition box set features numerous exclusive assets, and promises to be the ultimate Age of Conan version. In addition to the game itself the box comes with an impressive art book, the original soundtrack, a bonus DVD, a faux leather map of Hyboria and additional gamekeys which can be given to MMO friends. The Collectors Edition also comes with priceless in-game items, making it a must-have item for any serious MMO gamer.

To make the edition even more collectible, Eidos and Funcom also reveal that the Collectors edition will only be printed in one batch. If you are not able to secure this limited edition in time, it will become permanently unavailable. As fitting for a Collectors Edition it all comes in a specially designed box with a broad selection of Conan collectibles included.

The pack will retail for $89.95 in North America, and will be available at retail and online stores on March 25, 2008. Retail programs have already been set up with leading US retailers and the box can soon be pre-ordered at gaming outlets. The Collectors Edition will in addition be available in numerous European territories, with more information to follow.

Contents for the North American Collectors Edition will include (contents may vary for European editions):

  --  Ring of Acheronia (Exclusive In-Game Item) -- The Ring of Acheronia is
      an exclusive in-game item which will only ever be available in the
      Collectors Edition. Stemming from the ancient civilization of Acheron,
      the ring offers special XP and stamina enhancements for players,
      making it a powerful companion on the brutal journey through Hyboria.
  --  Hand-Finished Collectors Edition Box -- A true piece of art, the
      metalay-embossed box comes with the royal emblem of King Conan.
      Naturally it comes in a larger-than-life box, with inlay page and
      individually numbered holographic sticker.
  --  Hyborian World Faux Leather Map -- Made with a unique finish and
      designed by celebrated cartographer Clayton Bunce, this 14" x 20" faux
      leather map gives players an authentic overview of the vast Hyborian
      world.
  --  Unique Bonus DVD -- The bonus DVD is filled to the brim with visual
      entertainment, and includes trailers, a greeting from the game
      director, behind-the-scenes videos, developer diaries and artwork.
  --  Official Age of Conan Soundtrack -- The official game soundtrack CD
      features a hand-picked selection of the best music from the game.
      Composed by Knut Avenstroup Haugen, the official Age of Conan
      soundtrack delivers an incredible and powerful musical journey.
  --  Age of Conan Art Book -- With hundreds of art pieces hand-picked by
      the Art Director, this 128-page  book delivers a stunning visual
      experience. Featuring never-before-seen pieces, it fully depicts the
      incredible amounts of art which went into the creation of the savage
      world of Hyboria
  --  The Drinking Cape (Bonus In-game Item) -- As fitting for a mature MMO
      game, the Drinking Cape gives you access to free drinks in all the
      taverns of Hyboria. This dream-come-true outfit will never be
      available after the game launches, and with it you can impress friends
      down the road by proving your status as a pioneer player.
  --  Five Free Guest Passes  -- Online games are all about having fun with
      your friends, and only in the Collectors Edition will you get five
      special guest passes to Hyboria. With the guest pass you can invite
      five selected friends, allowing them to play together with you, at no
      cost, for a limited time period.

"We are very proud to present such a striking and distinctive Collectors Edition for the countless Conan and MMO fans," said Robert Lindsey, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Eidos Inc. "Those fortunate enough to secure this limited edition pack will find many authentically crafted Conan mementos to treasure for years to come."

"At Funcom we are all gamers, and we know how much gaming fans treasure unique editions," said Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. "Together with Eidos we have therefore put a substantial amount of work into this Collectors Edition, ensuring that every single piece is of the highest possible quality. This is surely the be-all, end- all edition of Age of Conan, and we hope that our players will cherish what we have created for them."

Age of Conan is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated PC games in development. It has received close to twenty magazine covers and more than fifteen major awards, including numerous "Best MMO of E3" awards and the official "Best Online Game of Show" award at the GC convention 2007. Age of Conan is a key title in Microsoft's Games for Windows line-up, as well as a showcase title for nVidia.

Source: PRNewswire

MediaCart, Microsoft and Wakefern Team Up to Deliver Next-Generation Digital Grocery Shopping and Ad Experience

MediaCart Holdings, Microsoft Corp. and Wakefern Food Corporation announced today, at the National Retail Federation's 97th Annual Convention and Expo, that Wakefern plans to pilot MediaCart's next-generation computerized shopping carts for potential rollout to all ShopRite stores. The early pilot, conducted with Wakefern in its ShopRite stores, provided insights from both the consumer and retailer perspective that were adopted in the next-generation product. The nine-month pilot with Wakefern began in the spring of 2007. Microsoft's Atlas Division will provide video ad serving on the MediaCart grocery cart screen, providing advertisers with the opportunity to reach shoppers at the point of purchase, and providing ShopRite customers with a more personalized shopping experience.

By using Microsoft technologies, the MediaCart solution will enable anonymous ad targeting through data obtained through ShopRite's customer loyalty card program. A shopper would scan his or her card at the MediaCart, and receive ads and promotional offers based on past purchases and/or saved shopping lists that could be uploaded from a home PC. No personally identifiable information will be shared with Microsoft, MediaCart or any advertiser as part of the ad serving process. The technology will also provide advertisers with reporting and analytics capabilities to assess performance of the ads in the stores.

In addition to the advertising shoppers will receive, they will also be able to save time and money with MediaCart-equipped shopping carts by performing comparative price checks, locating products in the store, viewing store specials in aisle as they shop, viewing recipes and nutritional information, shopping using an electronic shopping list that is presented in aisle order, totaling the cost of the items in their baskets before checkout, and expediting the checkout using the cart-level checkout feature. This enhanced shopping experience helps differentiate ShopRite in the marketplace and drives brand and customer loyalty.

In addition to Microsoft's Atlas technologies, the MediaCart solution is also built on Microsoft Windows CE and Microsoft SQL Server. Trials of the MediaCart solution are expected to begin in ShopRite stores in the second half of 2008.

Source: MediaCart, PRNewswire

EMC Unveils Symmetrix DMX-4 SSD Storage System

The flash drives for the Symmetrix DMX-4 system have been purpose built to EMC's exacting specifications and use single-layer cell (SLC) flash technology combined with sophisticated controllers to achieve ultra fast read/write performance, high reliability and data integrity. They have been tested and qualified to withstand the intense workloads of high-end enterprise storage applications. Continuing a pace of innovation that has made Symmetrix the market-leading enterprise storage platform for more than a decade, EMC has further optimized the Symmetrix DMX-4 operating software to take advantage of the full power and value that flash storage technology brings to high-performance storage environments, including the ability to easily provision, manage, replicate and move data between flash drives and traditional Fibre Channel and SATA disk drives in the same array.

Because there are no mechanical components in flash drives, they require less power. In a storage array, flash drives can store a terabyte of data using 38 percent less energy than traditional mechanical disk drives. It would take 30 15,000 RPM Fibre Channel disk drives to deliver the same performance as a single flash drive, which translates into a dramatic 98 percent reduction in power consumption in a transaction-per-second comparison.

Flash storage technology is ideally suited to support applications that need to process massive amounts of information very quickly, such as currency exchange and electronic trading systems, real-time data feed processing, mainframe transaction processing, and many others. Storage systems with enterprise-class flash drives can deliver single-millisecond application response times, up to 10 times faster than those with traditional 15,000 RPM Fibre Channel disk drives. With flash drive technology in a Symmetrix DMX-4 storage system, a credit card provider, for example, could process its fraud detection information more quickly, clearing up to six times more transactions in the same amount of time it took to previously process a single transaction.

This new solid-state storage tier, "tier zero," is fully supported by the Symmetrix software management suite, enabling storage administrators to simplify the provisioning of all of their storage tiers with advanced management tools including Dynamic Cache Partitioning, Virtual LUNs, Quality of Service Manager, and now Virtual Provisioning (see separate press release for details) to simplify overall management and application performance.

With new support for one terabyte SATA II disk drives on Symmetrix DMX-4 systems, EMC is further improving storage density while enhancing energy efficiency (see separate press release for details). The Symmetrix DMX-4, with support for flash drives, Fibre Channel disk drives and SATA disk drives, offers the broadest range of 'in the box' storage tiering options to enable the consolidation of all application tiers within a single system. By aligning data availability, service level requirements and software functionality with capacity and cost considerations through tiered storage, Symmetrix DMX-4 delivers the best performance, resiliency and energy efficiency available in the industry today.

EMC plans to offer flash drives in 73 GB and 146 GB capacities for the Symmetrix DMX-4 platform beginning later in Q1 2008.

Source: EMC Corporation

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