Maxtor talks about the future and the concept of 'PS' at Gitex 2004

During Gitex this year, Maxtor will be talking in-depth about the company's objective to provide simple, flexible and cost-effective Personal Storage for a wide range of users in the Middle East and beyond.

"Personal Storage (PS) is the next big thing in the world of IT. People are increasingly concerned about the safety and privacy of their personal data and will turn to personal storage solutions to enjoy their 'truly' personal benefits," said Didier Trassaert, VP, Maxtor, EMEA. "The demand for Personal Storage solutions in the MEA region is gaining momentum and we have already allocated resources to meet this challenge and cater to more specialized requirements of the MEA market."

Leveraging the company's first-to-market leadership and proven expertise in external storage solutions and push button backup, Maxtor is strongly positioned to meet every kind of demand, for personal storage needs at the home and office.

The demand for affordable and reliable Personal Storage solutions is definitely on the rise, with positive forecasts for 'Home networking' leading the way for the foreseeable future. Computer use at home has matured to multimedia and music applications rather than just limited to standard word processing use. Hence, home users' needs for more storage space has increased in parallel, to satisfy their storage

and sharing requirements of data-rich files such as music, movies, home videos and valuable photos. The global home networking market is expected to be worth $6billion this year and by next year analysts are projecting that over 100 million homes worldwide will be using networked digital appliances.

"A growing number of homes in the Middle East & Africa region are using networked digital appliances e.g. Multiple Personal Video Recorders, Family PCs, Digital Camera and other devices. Amount of storage required to safe-keep, share and enjoy Digital content and Entertainment data is increasing by the leaps. Hence, we believe that the potential for Personal Storage solutions is going to be huge," said Rajeev Mukul, GM, Maxtor Middle East.

Maxtor's One Touch family offers a 'safe haven' for the consumer's valuable data. The Maxtor OneTouch™ II drive, the latest in Maxtor's award-winning Personal Storage solutions allows consumers to easily back up family photos, MP3 music collections, and other important personal and business data with a simple touch of a button. No high tech knowledge is required to set up the new drive, giving consumers no excuse to not backup their computers.

"Maxtor is an innovator of Personal Storage solutions and we are proud of our leading external hard drives for consumers, creative professionals, mobile entrepreneurs and small-business users. The OneTouch family provides a complete storage solution, whereby consumers can save, back-up and take their personal data with them wherever they go," added Trassaert. "Flexibility and mobility are key factors for the modern consumer, whether it relates to their choice of PC or PS."

The new OneTouch II boasts aesthetically enhanced features, a contemporary look, additional lock security with user password, simpler back-up and restore functions, easier Graphic User Interface for installation and set-up and an option for fully bootable back-up copy for Mac users. The OneTouch II will be available in the Middle East market late October 2004.