Right, Hal...to keeper you in AXC, though, you need a constant flow of information. Well, head over to ....
idema.org
There are several articles that you will find interesting.
1) Seagate article comparing each step of the manufacturing process re: MR vs TFI (thin film inductive), and where MR continues to have cost disadvantages. Seagate, though, expects 1997 to be finally the year that MR finally assumes cost parity with TFIs. The article ends with this excerpt:
A Fork In The Road
Advanced TFI heads will continue to prove a viable technology with increasing areal densities for several generations to come. Improvements to inductive technology include high moment pole materials and planar core designs. Just as double-MIG technology has lived several years beyond its predicted demise, so too will thin film inductive. Also, there certainly are non-head related cost differentials between MR and TFI drives which must be considered (e.g. chip set, media, etc.). But the disk drive industry to date has viewed the use of MR recording heads as carrying a significant cost disadvantage as compared to TFI heads. In the coming year, as the two near cost parity, decisions to pursue either path can be made without concern about a financial penalty for MR heads. In the end, the best technology at the lowest cost will prevail.
2) A Western Digital article on servoes that amplify the point made by Seagate pointing to "...non-head related cost differentials between MR and TFI drives which must be considered (e.g. chip set, media, etc)
3) And a market overview from Todd Bakar of H&Q that basically echoes Seagate's view that the transition to MR recording will happen in 1997. This article contains some interesting analysis of the progress of the top 5 drive makers vis-a-vis MR recording. In short, IBM has the lead, followed by Seagate and then Quantum, with Western Digital and Maxtor having the least aggressive MR development programs, perhaps counting on the merchant head suppliers like Read-Rite, ALPS, and TDK to eventually provide the cost-efficient heads.
Except for some of the more technical details, there is nothing in terms of trends and potential impact on AXC that we don't really know already.
Gus
P.S. What's going on at AOL? I haven't been able to log on for the past 3 days. And I use another ISP + TCP/IP to access AOL, not their congested dial-up network! |
