Ron, as Gus indicated in the above post, I wouldn't worry about what IBM doing in research laboratory in relation to Ampex to achieve these incredible densities. They just may be using KM in conjunction with their own technologies to achieve these goals. Since IBM's drive research is just that, research, IBM would not have to disclose if these densities were achieved using KM or not. Now suppose that IBM decides to package this "research drive" and put it on the market in 1997 and it does incorporate KM, it would go without saying that this would be good for AXC. Again, suppose for a minute that IBM's "new" drive did not incorporate KM. Do you think that IBM would be ready to share this technology with Seagate, Western Digital, and Quantum? I would seriously doubt it. If this were the case, I would think these big three drive makers would have to incorporate KM just to compete with Big Blue's drive.
Since KM has been tested and appears to be ready for production, and IBM's drive is still in the research lab, I think that anyting with this "new" IBM technology will not be on the shelves, KM or not, for some time to come. IMO, when the big three drive makers sign on to KM, IBM will sign as well. At that time, I would think that all of the drive makers incorporating KM will be using the same fundamental technologies and have drives for sale with more-or-less equal densities/capacities for a given price.
Long on AXC.
Forrest |
