Seagate Names Tom Porter Chief Technology Officer, Storage Products Group

Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG) today announced that on June 2, 1997, Tom Porter will assume the role of chief technology officer, Storage Products Group. With global responsibility for Seagate's six disc drive design centers and the Groups that make up its Advanced Concepts Labs, Tom will play a major role in guiding Seagate successfully into the 21st century. Based in Minnesota, Porter will report to Ron Verdoorn, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Seagate's Storage Products Group (SPG).

"Seagate is extremely pleased that someone of Tom's caliber will be joining us," said Verdoorn. "Tom has a 29-year record of outstanding leadership and expertise in data storage technology and is recognized as a significant contributor to the industry."

Porter has been instrumental in the development of recording head technology and magnetic component integration. He co-invented the flexible disc alignment and colleting geometry that was later used for the industry standard 3.5-inch flexible disc cartridge. From 1969 to 1994, Porter held engineering, program management, and executive positions at IBM, where he accomplished a number of industry firsts:

• development of IBM's first thin film disc
• shipment of the first 320 Mbyte 3.5-inch disc drive
• shipment of the first 1 Gbyte 1" high 3.5-inch disc drive
• shipment of the first 1 Gbyte 3.5-inch disc with magnetoresistive heads
• shipment of the industry's first 2 Gbyte 3.5-inch disc drive with fast/wide SCSI, ECC on the fly, and PRDF read channel

Porter holds six patents in disc drive technology and has been published 11 times for technical disclosures relating to hard drive electronics. In addition, he has garnered numerous industry awards and recognition for disc and tape drive development, and was elected to the "IBM Academy of Technology." He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Most recently, Porter held the position of vice president of Research and Development, Enterprise Storage Group at Western Digital.

"Seagate's leadership position is a direct result of the company's commitment to advancing data storage technology that enhances the way people live and work," added Verdoorn. "Tom has demonstrated that same commitment and we look forward to his leadership in enabling Seagate to meet the needs of future storage devices."

Seagate Technology, Inc. is a leading data technology company providing products for storing, managing and accessing digital information. Seagate develops and manufactures some of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including disc and tape storage devices, magnetic recording heads and media, precision motors, microelectronics, and data access and management software. With $9.0 billion in revenue, operations in 22 countries and over 100,000 employees worldwide, the Scotts Valley, CA-based company is the world's largest manufacturer of disc drives and related components and one of the globe's largest industrial corporations. Seagate's home page address on the World Wide Web is http://www.seagate.com.

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