The purpose of this report is to examine the Iomega Corporation, based in Roy, Utah, for the BA 201 - Survey of Business course at Birmingham-Southern College. The company manufactures computer storage devices: the ZipTM and JazTM drives, the Clik! Storage device, and the BuzTM audio and video drive. 1

The leading supplier of data storage devices in Europe, and the third largest supplier in the world, Iomega has now strengthened its line of products with the Ditto tape backup device.2 The industry's enthusiasm and public satisfaction with which these products were received is unprecedented in the computer industry, making Iomega an innovator among innovators.

This report will discuss the following components of the Iomega Corporation:

 History of the corporation and its products

 Marketing strategies and product offerings

Iomega was founded in 1980 with its flagship removable storage device, the Bernoulli drive. Though its original efforts are now more than antiquated, Bernoulli Optical Systems remains a subsidiary of Iomega. In 1983 Iomega was made public, and for

Edwards' new management approach towards Iomega eventually transformed the company from a struggling business into the most successful removable storage manufacturer in the world. This approach was based on the idea of creating a product that the public would buy and use rather than simply admire. After meeting with top management and technical advisors in the early months of 1995, Edwards was able to lay the groundwork for the release of Iomega's new Zip drive that would revolutionize the industry and reestablish the company as a major player in removable storage software. The creation and release of the Zip drive in late 1995, as well as wise financial management by Edwards, helped to increase Iomega's operating budget from $141 million in 1995 to just over $1.2 billion in 1997. 20

In response to this domestic success, Iomega began a complete expansion of its foreign production and marketing in early 1997. European headquarters were set up in both the Netherlands and Switzerland, and their production site in Malaysia was expanded and modified. While the base of the company remained in Roy, Utah, Iomega's presence in both Europe and Asia was fortified with a larger number of production jobs for Asians and Europeans. Coupled with a greater concentration of foreign marketing and advertising, Iomega emerged as the third largest producer of data storage devices in the world.6

The gross margin of $139 million or 28% of sales that resulted in the fourth quarter of 1998 was an improvement over the $88 million or 22% of sales in the third quarter. This improvement can be attributed to cost reductions in the Zip and Jaz product lines and initial sales of the new Zip USB and Zip 250 drives. The fourth quarter also included record revenue of $313 million in the Americas, $154 million in Europe, and $34 million in Asia Pacific. In addition, the quarter generated over $100 million in positive cash flow and reduced inventory by 16% over the third quarter. While 1998 did result in a high amount of operating expenses, the fourth quarter operating expense total of $106 million was down 17% from the $128 million in the fourth quarter of 1997. Iomega is working to implement its Six Sigma quality initiatives to cut costs and expects significant cost reductions in 1999.25 The decrease in selling, general, and administrative expenses that occurred later in 1998 was the result of the company-wide initiative to lower costs by reducing the staff, decreasing marketing and advertising expenses, and decreasing other discretionary spending.27

Iomega offers customers a way to store large amounts of information on disks rather than saving them on the hard drive of their computer. The company offers 100MB Zip USB and now the new 250MB Zip drives. This option benefits both businesses and personal computer owners. Businesses profit from owning a Zip drive due to the convenience of saving large presentations or proposals on a disk and then carrying it to different places; for personal computer owners, the Zip drive allows everyone in the house to have their own disk, keeping children's games separate from parent's finances. The notebook Zip gives people with digital computers the ability to carry large amounts of information with them in a slim, low power design for easier storage and transportation.

The success of the Iomega drives remained rampant when the company announced the introduction of the Buz multimedia producer in late 1997. The Buz producer would allow consumers to capture movies, music, and photographs on their personal computers. While the success of the Buz drive still remains far behind that of the Zip and Jaz drives, this diversification allowed the company to remain on the cutting edge of computer technology. The Jaz drive was marketed as a companion piece to the Buz drive, lightly forcing consumers to purchase two products with one goal in mind.9 The approach was successful, leading to 1997 fiscal year earning

Some common words found in the essay are:
Zip Jaz, Iomega Corporation, Zip USB, Iomega's Zip, Marketing Iomega, Six Sigma, Mobile Storage, Conclusion Iomega, Bernoulli Box, July Iomega, removable storage, fourth quarter, zip drive, data storage, zip drives, iomega corporation, storage devices, clik disks, bernoulli box, zip jaz, removable storage market, zip jaz drives, data storage devices, removable storage manufacturer, iomega zip drives,
Approximate Word count = 2926
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)