Kenwood Technologies' New Major European Partners Keep Up with Demand for TrueX High Speed CD-ROM Drives
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2000--Kenwood Technologies (USA), Inc. announces today its new European partners for European distribution of the new Kenwood 72X TrueX(TM) CD-ROM drive (ATAPI), the company's third high performance drive based on Zen Research's TrueX(TM) technology.
"Demand for high speed CD-ROM drives continue to excel in Europe," said vice president of marketing Thomas Hatcher. "In order to ensure that customers receive the best support possible, Kenwood Technologies goes to great lengths to establish strong partners that have reputations of high quality and integrity."
Key partnerships have been established with Partners In Europe based in Ireland and Open-E in Germany.
"Partners in Europe is delighted to be working with Kenwood Technologies (USA). We see tremendous opportunities for sales with these very hot and exciting products in the European market. Kenwood is a name that is well respected in Europe. Consumers will be happy to be associated with high quality, superior products," said Kieran Sheahan, CEO of Partners in Europe.
Partners in Europe will be supporting all European countries from their Irish headquarters, with the exclusion of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe, which will be handled by Open-E in Germany.
"Finally customers in Europe can benefit not only from TrueX technology and Kenwood's award winning line of fast CD-ROM drives, but also the local support that Open-E provides," said Krzysztof Franek, managing director of Open-E. "We believe that this alliance will provide a distinct benefit for the European customer base."
The Kenwood 72X TrueX CD-ROM drive delivers an unparalleled sustained transfer rate ranging from 6.75MB/sec. to 10.8MB/sec. across the entire disc, with a burst data transfer rate of 33MB/sec. The 72X TrueX reads 7 tracks of data in parallel and employs Partial Constant Angular Velocity (PCAV) for optimum performance.
Unlike a 56X "Max" drive that rotates at over 11,000 RPMs with excessive noise and vibration, the 72X TrueX drive's revolutionary design virtually eliminates vibration and noise while rotating at only 5,100 to 2,700 RPMs.
"With the Kenwood 72X TrueX CD-ROM drive, users can be assured that they are getting the highest transfer rate attainable in the market today for their graphics-intensive applications such as 3D games, data visualization, desktop publishing, software installation, and digital audio extraction," said A. J. Hart, senior vice president at Kenwood Technologies.
"Reading several tracks in parallel is an elegant way to improve the data rate without spinning the disc faster. With this technology, Kenwood raises the bar for CD and DVD drive performance," said Wolfgang Schlichting, research manager of International Data Corporation.
Kenwood's 72X TrueX CD-ROM drive embodies Kenwood's competitive advantage of being faster, quieter, and more reliable than other drives. The 72X TrueX drive delivers a performance range of 45X to 72X across the entire disc, unlike an advertised 56X "Max" CD-ROM drive that claims to perform at 24X on its innermost tracks and 56X on its outermost tracks (if the disc is full).
The Kenwood 72X TrueX CD-ROM drive offers a more reliable flow of data to the user with rotational speeds that are less than half that of a 56X "Max" drive, enabling precise readability of media with limited vibration. Zen's TrueX technology allows the Kenwood 72X TrueX to read multiple tracks concurrently and at a calmer pace, resulting in less noise and vibration.
Kenwood TrueX CD-ROM drives have won over 20 awards in less than one year and continues to set the industry performance standard. The Kenwood 72X TrueX CD-ROM drive builds on the success of the preceding 52X TrueX and 42X TrueX drives in the aftermarket channel, and is a TrueX CD-ROM option under several Compaq desktop configurations.
Kenwood 72X TrueX (ATAPI) CD-ROM drives will be available in February at a recommended retail price of $129 before VAT. Kenwood TrueX CD-ROM drives are available in bulk pack or retail box in Europe through Kenwood's European Partners Open-e and Partners In Europe.
About Kenwood Technologies
Kenwood Corporation was established in 1946, and is a world-renowned manufacturer of consumer audio and communications equipment with annual revenues of more than 3 billion dollars. In 1997, Kenwood Corporation established Kenwood Technologies (USA), Inc., with headquarters in San Jose, as a new division to launch Kenwood into the computer and technology sector.
Products include a line of award-winning high performance TrueX CD-ROM drives -- 42X TrueX, 52X TrueX, 52X TrueX SCSI, and 72X TrueX -- as well as the CL-501 and CL-701 multimedia speaker systems. Additional information about Kenwood Technologies is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.kenwoodtech.com.
About Partners In Europe
Partners in Europe was founded in 1993 to provide overseas manufacturers of high quality OEM & retail computer products, with a Pan European Virtual Subsidiary solution to sell and service their products resulting in incremental sales and profits. Partners in Europe maintain its ISO 9002 Certified European Headquarters in Shannon, Ireland.
For more information about Partners in Europe, contact Michael Mullins and Sara McDonald, Shannon Industrial Estate, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland. Phone: + 353 61 702000. Web site: www.PIEU.COM.
About Open-E
Open-E Elektronikhandels GmbH was found in 1998 in Bremen, Germany. Open-E was started by IT professionals with years of experience in a variety of business fields. Open-E specializes in the introduction, market presence strategy, and sales, for innovating, IT products in German speaking and Eastern European countries.
For more information about Open-E Elektronikhandels GmbH, contact Anke Stover or Krzysztof Franek, Carl-Stockhinger-Str. 1C D-28197 Bremen, Germany. Phone: + 49-421-527017-11.
Note to Editors: Zen, TrueX and Multibeam are trademarks of Zen Research N.V. and its affiliates in the United States and other countries. |
