IDEMA Forms GLOBAL Association For Hard Drive Industry

Disk Drive Industry Votes to Consolidate Regional Organizations into One

The International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (IDEMA USA) and its subsidiary, IDEMA Asia-Pacific, have combined operations with IDEMA Japan to form one global organization, IDEMA(TM). IDEMA members voted overwhelmingly to approve the plan to globalize the disk drive associations and approved IDEMA's first global Board of Directors.

"This is a historic achievement for IDEMA's members, global volunteers, and staff," said Mark Geenen, President of IDEMA. "This is the first step in forming and leveraging the benefits of a truly global trade association. Member companies will begin to receive a wider variety of benefits, and the disk drive industry will now have a strong, unified voice." IDEMA GLOBAL provides the means to address commercial issues in multiple regions and streamline operations under one trade association, including a truly global standards program.

The newly-created global Board of Directors provides equal representation for each of its three main regions (United States, Japan, and Asia-Pacific, including Singapore, China, Thailand, and Malaysia). "The global Board will enable a unified IDEMA to have synchronization strategies, set common goals, align programs and report to its members from a global as well as regional perspective," states Dr. Tsuneo Suganuma, Sr. Chief Scientist, Hitachi Ltd. Representation from Japan includes Mikio Matsuzaki, TDK; Dr. Tsuneo Suganuma, Hitachi, Ltd.; Akira Kakehi, Fujitsu, Ltd.; and Noboru Kubokawa, Institute of Information Technology, Ltd. The Asia Pacific region is represented by John Coyne, Western Digital (M); James M. Chirico, Seagate Technology International; TEH Bong Lim, MMI Holdings Ltd.; and Dirk Thomas, Hitachi GST. Board members from the US region include Dr. Alan Armstrong, Marvell; Rick Penn, Hutchinson Technology; Jeff Donnelly, KLA-Tencor; and Adam Wray, Xyratex.

The Executive Advisory Council, which includes the top executives of the industry leading companies, provides high-level strategic support for IDEMA and was a strong supporter of the globalization plan. "Innovations in rotating magnetic storage are creating both revenue growth and profit pool opportunities for the hard drive industry," said Matt Massengill, chairman and CEO of WD and member of IDEMA's Executive Advisory Council. "It is a global industry with some of the largest companies in the world as its customers. IDEMA plays a critical role as the industry's association, and as a globally networked organization will have the leverage to help the industry flourish in this exciting time."

About IDEMA

IDEMA is the trade association for the $30 Billion disk drive industry, representing 340 member companies in the personal computing, enterprise, and consumer electronics storage with offices in Sunnyvale, Ca., Singapore, and Tokyo, Japan. Visit www.idema.org for more information.

SOURCE: IDEMA

CONTACT: Mark Geenen,

President of IDEMA,

+1-408-991-9430, or

mgeenen@idema.org

Web site: http://www.idema.org

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