APRIL 14–SAN DIEGO, Calif.– Iomega Corp. is shipping its new REV 35GB/90GB drive, and the data storage giant says that one unique quality has is a “virtual cleanroom” inside the removable disk.

The patent-pending air filtration system is just one aspect of device engineering that keeps the sensitive read/write heads and electronics sealed in a protected environment. The REV drives are also equipped with patent-pending automatic head cleaning and error correction mechanisms, which Iomega says makes for extremely durability and “reliable shelf life, estimated to exceed 30 years.”

The market for REV backup in small and medium-sized businesses is sizeable, and Iomega estimates 7.9 million small businesses (under 100 employees) and 93,000 mid-size firms (100 to 999 employees) in the U.S. Businesses such as the pharmaceutical and biotech industries are faced with such regulatory compliance requirements as CFR 21 Part 11 for electronic recording keeping.

As an alternative to tape and other backup and archiving solutions, the REV drive and 35GB removable REV disks are geared for server and desktop backup, but also provide businesses and home users with the ideal portable storage device for sharing and archiving large files.

The tape within the REV drive is removable with the speed and ease of use of a hard drive, according to Iomega. REV disks transfer data up to eight times faster than tape, are smaller than a deck of playing cards (10 x 77 x 75 mm), and can be rewritten more than an estimated one million times. With a maximum sustained transfer rate of 25 MB/sec, and using drag and drop random access technology, REV users can copy and restore individual files in seconds.