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Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Becomes Second Source Manufacturer of UDO™ Media

Agreement with World-Class Media Manufacturer Signals Growing UDO Market Acceptance

Melbourn, UK-December 22, 2003-Plasmon, (LSE: PLM), the market leader for professional data archival solutions, today announced that Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) has signed a licence agreement to become the second-source manufacturer of UDO™ (Ultra Density Optical) media. A subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, MKM is universally recognized for its Optical disc technology innovation and superior manufacturing processes. MKM's media products are sold under the Verbatim® brand in North America and Europe and the Mitsubishi brand in Japan.

MKM is a world leader in media manufacturing, and was the first media company to receive ISO certification, the de facto standard for quality management systems worldwide. This commitment to quality translates into consistent product performance and reliability.

"With a legacy in optical media development that includes MO and the CD/DVD family of products, MKM is a logical choice to partner with Plasmon in the production and development of UDO, the next generation of optical media," said Nigel Street, Chief Executive of Plasmon. "MKM's reputation for media technology innovation and manufacturing excellence will ensure UDO production keeps pace with market demand."

"The agreement with MKM should provide a reliable, cost-effective second source for UDO media," said Bob Wilson, Vice President of Nearline Storage, Hewlett Packard (HP). "UDO is a key component in HP's Information Lifecycle Management initiative, which combines the strength of HP's broad portfolio of leading storage networking, tape and software products to offer customers complete storage solutions at a reduced cost."

About UDO

Designed for organizations seeking secure retention of important information, UDO succeeds 5.25 inch MO (Magneto Optical) technology as the new professional optical storage standard. UDO breaks the mold for optical storage solutions with increased storage capacity and dramatically lower archival storage costs.

UDO features blue laser recording rather than the red lasers used in previous optical drives such as MO and DVD. Blue lasers achieve far greater data densities, resulting in dramatically higher media capacities. First generation UDO products will have a capacity of 30GB, with capacity reaching 120GB by the third generation. Drive and media capacity are scheduled to double every 18 to 24 months. The densities achieved through blue lasers allow UDO to be priced at $2.00/GB in the first generation, one-fifth the price of MO media.

UDO media is packaged in an ISO standard 5.25 inch cartridge, allowing UDO and MO media to be supported in the same libraries, and reducing the cost of existing media migration. Future UDO drives will be backward read-compatible, minimizing future media migration expense.

The Phase Change recording technology used by UDO is field-proven and highly stable. With absolute authenticity and a media life of 50+ years, UDO meets the most demanding requirements of regulatory agencies and other authorities for the secure, long-term storage of information.

About Plasmon

Plasmon is the world leader in professional archival solutions, providing a comprehensive line of optical libraries, drives and media. Customers include corporations, institutions and government agencies worldwide and are backed by a global service and support network. Founded in 1985, Plasmon is listed on the London Stock Exchange, (LSE: PLM), and had fiscal year 2003 sales revenues of £60 million. Worldwide headquarters are in Cambridge, England with US Sales and Manufacturing based in Colorado. Plasmon has regional sales offices throughout Europe and North America. For more information, visit www.plasmon.com or www.plasmon.co.uk.

Plasmon and UDO are registered trademarks of Plasmon Plc. Copyright 2003

ABOUT Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.,LTD

Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.
MKM holds a strong market share in markets such as Recordable and Rewritable DVD discs, CD-R and CD-RW discs, 90 mm and 130 mm MO discs and 130 mm WORM discs. Many of these products are marketed through Verbatim Corporation, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of MKM.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC) is Japan's largest chemical company and one of the world's leading manufacturers of information storage products. In a line-up of data and image storage media, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation had consolidated revenues of approximately $13 billion for the year ended March 31, 2002.