To All,
The Ampex Keepering technology appears to be real and conceptually
simple, so that widespread commercialization is a real possibility.
The basic technique is to deposit a second thin film layer of material
with magnetic capability over the standard data storage thin film
material on the hard disk platter. This second layer is called the
"keeper layer" by Ampex. The keeper layer eliminates the leakage
magnetic flux between the hard disk platter and the disk head during
disk reads. This leakage flux in conventional hard disk platters
limits the storage density and hence disk storage capacity.
Conventional hard disks reduce this leakage by reducing the disk
head to platter spacing. The Ampex Keepering method will attain a
higher storage density for a given disk head to platter
spacing, thereby increasing storage capacity.
The Keepering method was originally described by its inventor,
B. Gooch of Ampex, in a paper in the November 1991 issue of the
IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. Subsequent to Gooch's publication, a
research team headed by Jack Judy at the University of Minnesota has
performed extensive investigations of the Keepering method. Judy's
research confirmed the effectiveness of the Keepering technique and
Gooch's conclusions. Judy's work also extended the applicability of
the Keepering method to Chromium based magnetic media
from the Nickel-Iron based media used by Gooch. Interestingly, Judy's
work is funded by Maxtor, Seagate, HMT Technology and Integrated
Engineering Software. Judy's work has been published in the 1994 and
1995 IEEE Transactions on Magnetics and the 1994 Journal of Applied
Physics.
The publication of this work validating the Keepering technology in
such prestigeous scientific and engineering journals should be
re-assuring to Ampex investors. Also important is the simple concept
behind this technology. No substantial obstacles have been identified
in all this published work that indicates difficulty in potential
implementation.
Although the published work addresses only application to all
magnetic hard disk drives (which of course includes IOMG Jazz),
Gooch's paper mentions the possible application to "vertical media",
which would include tape media such as digital storage, video and
audio tapes. Potential applications appear to be quite widespread.
I hope this information is of use to everyone deciding on investing
in Ampex. Thanks for reading this long post. I am an investor.
Harry |
