CMS, Western Digital Will Distribute IBM Disk Drive

CMS Enhancements Inc. and Western Digital Corp. have signed a key contract with International Business Machines Corp. to distribute an advanced IBM hard disk-drive product for personal computers.

CMS, headquartered in Tustin, and Irvine-based Western Digital will share in the contract, valued at $55 million during the next year.

The agreement covers a new 3.5-inch disk drive developed by IBM. The IBM product has a storage capacity of 320 megabytes--the equivalent of 160,000 double-spaced, typed pages--the most of any 3.5-inch drive on the market.

“This is a state-of-the-art product and really a major breakthrough for the industry,” CMS President Jim Farooquee said. “It will be very good for our company, both short and long term.”

Dan Brown, vice president of storage marketing for Western Digital, said the new drive represents “the company’s focus on storage products for the high-end personal computer and workstation markets.”

IBM has not yet formally announced the new product but is expected to soon.