"..Plasmon IDE has announced the completion of the acquisition and full transfer of the 12-inch format optical library manufacturing business from Cygnet Storage Solutions Inc., of San Jose to Plasmon's US sales and marketing headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn. Plasmon acquired the 12-inch optical storage library business from Cygnet for the sum of $3.65 million US in July of 1999.

One of only two large format library manufacturers in the world, Plasmon is incorporating their 12-inch optical TrueWorm Technology(TM) drives and optical media in these mass storage libraries. The new Plasmon 1800 series optical libraries will also support Plasmon's fourth generation 12-inch drives and media, which will soon begin volume shipping.

With this acquisition and the delivery of the fourth generation (30GB) 12-inch drives and media, Plasmon substantially increases the Eden Prairie plant's size and reinforces its growing market share in the optical storage market.

Utilities, banks, brokerages, federal, state and local government agencies and businesses that require large storage capacity combined with a complete data recovery system capability, have identified WORM as the storage technology unparalleled in security. With Plasmon's new 30 GB drive, a 141-slot library can deliver up to 4.2 terabytes of storage on secure, 12-inch WORM media.

The 12-inch libraries have three models, which range from 22 to 141 platters, and incorporate one to five optical drives. The current storage capacity range, with 12 GB optical drives, is from 264 GB to 1.7 TB and is expanding to 4.2 TB with the addition of the new 30 GB drive. Prices range from $126,000 to $263,000 depending on the number of drives and the storage capacity..." NULL