Data can now be transferred at speeds up to 133 MB/sec and hard drive capacity can be accessed beyond 137 GB
Milpitas, Calif. [October 25, 2001] !V Promise Technology, Inc. announced today the Ultra133 TX2 controller card, the world!|s first shipping controller card that supports storage devices that exceed 137 GB. It is also optimized to support Maxtor's Fast Drive Ultra ATA/133 interface specification and Big Drive 48-bit data addressing technology. As a result, users will be able to transfer data at speeds up to 133MB/sec and access hard drive capacities beyond 137 GB.
Ultra133 TX2 increases data transfer rates between a hard disk drive and a personal computer up to 33 percent compared with Ultra ATA/100 controllers, and supports Maxtor's recently-announced 160 GB DiamondMax™ D540X and DiamondMax Plus D740X 80 GB drives that offer Ultra ATA/133. The controller card will also support other manufacturers' hard disk drives that conform to the Big Drive and Fast Drive specifications, when these become available.
"By rapidly implementing support for 137 GB capacity breakthroughs and Ultra ATA/133 drives, we can support larger and faster ATA drives until at least the year 2004," said Sam Sirisena, Promise's vice president of sales and marketing worldwide. "We want resellers, OEMs, distributors and end-users to continue counting on Promise for leadership when working with new ATA drives, drive capacities and drive standards."
!?Big Drive!|,(known as 48 bit addressing in ATA-6), the new industry-wide specification for drive capacity led by Maxtor, supports ATA hard drive capacities up to 144 PB (petabytes) - roughly 120,000 times larger than the current 137 GB capacity barrier seen in previous generation drives. Maxtor's new 160 GB DiamondMax D540X uses a wider 48-bit data address versus the smaller 28-bit address. Without 48-bit address support provided by the BIOS of a motherboard or an add-in controller such as Promise's, drive capacity for the user would be limited to 137 GB or below.
Personal computer users who want to upgrade from Ultra ATA/100 to Ultra ATA/133 will need to purchase a compliant controller card such as Promise's Ultra133 TX2 controller or system motherboard along with the a new Maxtor hard drive, the DiamondMax Plus D740X or the DiamondMax D540X.
"As a leading worldwide hard drive manufacturer, Maxtor welcomes Promise and its advanced controllers to support the design breakthroughs in drive technology like Maxtor's 'Big Drive' and 'Fast Drive' interface initiatives," said Ted Deffenbaugh, vice president of product strategy at Maxtor. "We've worked closely with Promise to develop this technology on their cards and support their initiatives to increase public awareness and generate demand for this fundamental change in Ultra ATA technology."
The Ultra133 TX2 has a suggested retail price of $59.
About Promise
Promise Technology, Inc., headquartered in Milpitas, CA is a worldwide leader in Ultra ATA storage controllers. The company has an impressive track record of design innovations and product introductions since its founding in 1988. Promise developed the first IDE caching controller, the first Ultra ATA controller card, and the first controller to offer ATA RAID for desktop PCs (FastTrak). For more information, visit Promise Technology's web site at
www.promise.com
About Maxtor
Maxtor Corporation (www.maxtor.com) is one of the world!|s leading suppliers of information storage solutions. The company has an expansive line of storage products for desktop computers, network storage, high-performance Intel-based servers, and consumer electronics. Maxtor has a reputation of being a proven market leader built by providing consistent high-quality products, and service and support for its customers. Maxtor and its products can be found at
www.maxtor.com or by calling toll-free (800) 2-MAXTOR. Maxtor is traded on the NYSE under the MXO symbol.
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GB means 1 billion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.