Verbatim is one of the best known brands on the storage solutions' market, as it has launched over the years quite a huge number of storage media, ranging from floppy disks to DVDs. However, the company's involvement in the field of external HDDs wasn't exactly very solid up until recently and this is the reason why Verbatim Corporation and its parent company Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) have decided to take some important steps in this direction and purchased SmartDisk Corporation's external hard drive (HD) and digital imaging business.

"The acquisition of SmartDisk's external and portable hard drive business assets is complementary to Verbatim's existing business," said Shigenori Otsuka, president of MKM. "Plans are already underway to leverage these assets and Verbatim's heritage to quickly extend our global leadership in the removable storage and related accessories markets. Today's consumers and business professionals need the full range of removable and portable storage options - hard disk, optical and flash. Now, we can meet all of their storage requirements with a complete family of highly reliable, technically advanced solutions that are also cost-effective" he added.

The reason why Verbatim has chosen SmartDisk is a fairly simple one. Thus, according to a report by NPD, SmartDisk had a 16 percent market share in the US retail portable drive market in 2006, which made it quite an interesting target for the Japanese consortium. After all, it's better to purchase a well-established brand rather than create one out of scratch, isn't it?

"The SmartDisk brand is well established in the US and Canadian markets," said Michael Battaglia, president and CEO for SMDK Corporation, formerly SmartDisk Corp. "Verbatim's and MKM's resources will promote the global reach necessary to compete on a worldwide basis. We are confident that Verbatim's support will continue to ensure strong growth for our former suppliers and customers."

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