October 21, 2004－TDK Corporation has developed a third-generation data cartridge for the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium format – the D2406-LTO3. The new LTO product builds on years of TDK specialisation in recording media and its goal to produce the best products for each recording format. This is attested to by the fact that it has been designated the world's first to pass testing by the Compliance Verification Entity (CVE), the certifying body for the LTO standard. This latest in TDK data storage offering will be on sale in November.

TDK’s LTO Ultrium 3 meets the growing demand for data storage with ease. Its 400GB uncompressed capacity and rapid 80MB/s uncompressed data transfer rate makes it stand out as the latest backup system to fulfil the needs of the large-capacity data era.

To enable the larger capacity of this storage media, TDK has utilised the latest tape manufacturing technology. The result is a tape of reduced thickness, enabling more tape to be wound – thus providing 704 recording tracks (compared with 384 tracks for LTO Ultrium 1 and 512 for Ultrium 2), whilst at the same time offering considerably greater precision, performance and durability.

Use of exclusively designed "Super Finavinx" metal magnetic particles and an ultra-thin, dual-layer coating ensures a stable performance with a low error rate and accurate reading and writing of data. Two types of binders – Electron Beam Curing, and thermo-setting Three Dimensional Compound – are used to form a tough molecular structure within the coating of the layers, providing a highly reliable and durable tape. TDK utilises an ultra-smooth base film in LTO Ultrium 3 tape that is highly resistant to ambient temperature, humidity and external stress, thus ensuring its resistance to shrinkage or deformities. For added protection the cartridge has been fitted with a shock resistant mechanism to provide greater precision and reliability. The tests on the new LTO Ultrium 3 have been rigorous and conclusive. This is a product of extremely high calibre – the quality remains the same even after 25,000 repeated reads/writes.

In the near future, to prevent valuable data from tampering, TDK will also launch sales of the LTO Ultrium 3 data cartridge D2406W-LTO3, a write-once, read many (WORM) type cartridge.