FUJI Fujifilm Holdings (MM)

Fujifilm announced today that Norio Shibata has been named General Manager of the company�s Recording Media Products Division, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Shibata assumes a role previously held by Toru Takahashi, who has been appointed General Manager of Corporate Planning Headquarters, FUJIFILM Corporation and named to the board of directors. Mr. Takahashi remains a Corporate Vice President, with responsibilities including recording media products, and retains his role as President and CEO of FUJIFILM Recording Media U.S.A., Inc. �This appointment underscores the company�s continued focus on the development of high capacity tape storage media for enterprise tape solutions,� said Mr. Takahashi. �Mr. Shibata�s background and credentials will help lead Fujifilm to develop advanced storage technologies that our customers and their markets demand, in particular the commercialization of a unique tape coating process incorporating finer barium ferrite magnetic particles.� Prior to his new role, Mr. Shibata was General Manager of the Recording Media Research Laboratories. He joined Fujifilm in 1980 and developed the industry�s first mass production process for simultaneous VHS double coating, as well as the unique Fujifilm ATOMM and NANOCUBIC technologies � the basis of next generation Fujifilm data storage media. Mr. Shibata has been recognized with several prestigious awards for his technical achievements, including the Ohkouchi Memorial Technical Award for his work on the VHS double coating process and the Ichimura Memorial Industrial Award and the Japan Chemical Industry Association Technology Award for the development of the Fujifilm ATOMM technology. Introduced in 1992, the Fujifilm ATOMM dual-coating process enabled the introduction of several successful consumer, professional broadcasting and computer data storage products, including: the Iomega ZIP� disk, introduced in 1994 as the first removable 100 megabyte (MB) storage product; DLT tape� IV, Super DLT and the first two generations of LTO Ultrium data tape formats; and DVCPRO video tape for the professional video and broadcast market. In 2001, building on the advances made through ATOMM, Fujifilm unveiled NANOCUBIC technology, which uses a combination of nano-scale particles, a unique dual-coating process and advanced dispersion techniques to achieve magnetic recording layers ten times thinner than the super high resolution of previous ATOMM technology. The following year IBM engineers demonstrate the capability of storing a full terabyte (TB) of data on a single data cartridge using Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology. In 2005, Mr. Shibata was appointed General Manager of FUJIFILM Recording Media Research Laboratories where he led the commercialization of 700GB (native) IBM System Storage 3592 Extended Data High-capacity Tape Cartridge, and 800GB (native) LTO Ultrium 4 Tape Cartridge. Mr. Shibata also advanced research on next-generation magnetic tape innovation using finer barium ferrite (BaFe) magnetic particles. In May 2006, IBM researchers demonstrated the ability to store 6.67 billion bits per square inch of data tape using the linear recording format based on Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology incorporating barium ferrite particles, a first significant step toward the potential of realizing a single tape cartridge capable of holding eight terabytes. Barium ferrite is a naturally stable crystalline particle that does not corrode or change chemically over time, making it an optimal particle for next-generation tape storage media. The unique Fujifilm NANOCUBIC technology processes the barium ferrite particles in a very uniform manner (with thickness variation of less than 10 percent across the length of the tape). The result is a much smoother magnetic surface that produces higher resolution for recording digital data, ultra-low noise and high signal-to-noise ratios that are ideal for Magneto-Resistive (MR) and Giant Magneto-Resistive (GMR) heads. You can learn more about Fujifilm coating innovations at www.fujifilmusa.com/tapestorage. About Fujifilm FUJIFILM Recording Media U.S.A., Inc. is a leader in supplying the IT industry with advanced storage media including LTO Ultrium�and enterprise-class�data tape featuring the lowest cost per GB for mass storage applications with very low power requirements. Fujifilm provides broadcast and data center customers and industry partners with a wide range of�unique data center accessories,�value-added services and programs. For more information on Fujifilm recording media products, customers can call 800-�488-3854�or go to www.fujifilmusa.com/tapestorage. To receive news and information direct from Fujifilm via RSS, subscribe free at www.fujifilmusa.com/rss. FUJIFILM Corporation (NASDAQ:FUJI) brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including electronic imaging, photofinishing equipment, medical systems, life sciences, graphic arts, flat panel display materials, and office products, based on a vast portfolio of digital, optical, fine chemical and thin film coating technologies. The company was among the top 15 companies around the world granted U.S. patents in 2007, employs more than 70,000 people worldwide and in the year ended March 31, 2008, had global revenues of $24.7 billion. Fujifilm is committed to environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit www.fujifilmholdings.com. NOTE: All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners