Officials at Imation Corp. today announced an increase in CD-R pricing across all channels, effective June 1, in reaction to an industry-wide tightening of worldwide CD-R supplies. Despite these market dynamics due to increased costs, strong demand and supply constraints anticipated in 2001, the company expects no interruption in its ability to supply its global sales channels with high-quality, Imation-branded CD-R media.

``Increases in the market, which are the result of heightened demand and increased costs of blank CD-R and global consolidation of manufacturing capabilities, will not affect the availability of Imation optical storage products to our channel and retail partners,'' said Steve Carter, general manager of Imation's Personal Storage Solutions business. ``With Imation's worldwide supply capabilities and excellent network of global sales channels, our customers can continue to rely on Imation CD-R media as their first choice for reliable, cost-effective, high-quality storage technology.''

The demand for CD-R continues to be strong and Imation expects sales to remain robust as the format continues to evolve to meet the needs for higher capacities and faster speeds. Imation plans to launch its higher-speed 24X CD-R in July - resulting in an overall increase in speed performance of 200% in 12 months. As a leader in data storage and information management, Imation will continue to refine and expand its product portfolio to provide the highest quality CD-R, CD-RW and DVD media. Imation's broad portfolio also offers a full line of digital devices, drives and accessories to meet the creative needs of its customers - whether it's music, photos, data or more.