Powered By Nine® Awarded U.S. Patent, Acquired by Imation Corp.

MIDDLEBORO, Mass., Dec. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Nine Technology, an industry leader in data backup and recovery solutions, today announced that the technology that operates the Powered By Nine® platform was awarded a U.S. patent for its innovative merger of two-stage, block-level deduplication and encryption. The patent and technology were subsequently acquired, along with certain other Nine Technology assets, by Imation Corp., a leading global technology company. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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The robust and efficient data backup and recovery services that Nine Technology has offered its channel partners since April 2010 will not be interrupted; managed service providers and value-added resellers currently offering Powered By Nine® solutions will benefit from Imation's resources as development on the software continues. Channel partners will remain clients of Nine Technology, and the Powered By Nine® infrastructure on which their customers' data is stored will remain the property of Nine Technology.

"In the two years that Powered By Nine® has been active in the marketplace, the technology has repeatedly been proven faster, more efficient and more comprehensive than other options," said Tom Gelson, founder and former CEO of Nine Technology. "Imation's acquisition of the intellectual property and other assets will strengthen our efforts to develop Powered By Nine® into the strongest data backup and recovery solution available. I want to thank the many channel partners who have supported Nine Technology and assure them that their businesses and their customers will continue to enjoy the benefits of working with our team."

Imation and Nine Technology first partnered in October 2010, when Imation announced the use of RDX technology as a cloud seeding device for Powered By Nine® data backup. Nine Technology will continue to support RDX-based cloud seeding for Powered By Nine® PRO users.

"Scalable storage for SMBs is a major growth opportunity for Imation, and Nine Technology's patented solution complemented our roadmap in several ways," said Ian Williams, Imation vice president, global marketing and product management. "We're eager to coordinate the continued development of the software with our team and with Nine Technology as a strategic partner."

Following the acquisition, Gelson and CTO Alex Stoev will join Imation to help coordinate the continued development of Powered By Nine® and as key additions to the company's scalable storage team. This month, Nine Technology announced that Gene Fay was promoted to President and will oversee day-to-day operations, including business development, channel partnerships and customer service.

About Nine Technology
Nine Technology delivers simple, powerful and cost-effective turnkey data backup and restore solutions for managed service providers (MSPs), value-added resellers and IT consultants. The Powered By Nine® solutions enable service providers to quickly offer reliable and scalable services to protect their customers' critical data stored on desktops, laptops and servers. It is our goal to know our customers' business and help them build revenue. For more information, visit www.ninetechnology.com.

About Imation Corp.
Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN) is a leading global technology company dedicated to helping people and organizations store, protect, and connect their digital world. Our portfolio of data storage and security products, electronics and accessories reaches customers in more than 100 countries through a powerful global distribution network. Imation Corp.'s global brand portfolio includes Imation, Memorex, XtremeMac, TDK Life on Record and IronKey brands. Additional information about Imation is available at http://www.imation.com. 

SOURCE Nine Technology