Iomega moves off the desktop
The storage company is marketing its Zip drive for use with all manner of digital devices, from photo scanners to set-top boxes.
The popular Zip drive offers about 100MB of storage, and is typically used as an add-on for desktop and notebook computer users to back up important data. But Iomega is betting that consumers will be looking to store data from many different devices.
Consumers will be "liberated from the PC," said Iomega's John Sperrazzo, business development manager of Beyond PC applications. "Users have been held hostage by the serial cable."
Iomega unveiled a scanner from Microtek Labs, the Imagedeck, which includes Zip Built-In. The ImageDeck allows users to store photos directly to a Zip disk, to archive them, and to create digital photo albums, Sperrazzo said.
Iomega's Zip Built-In will also be integrated into a set-top box from WebSurfer to store email, Web downloads, and other Internet content.