Re: Mitsubishi. Per Karen, the Mitsubishi case in San Jose is now tentatively scheduled for 3/4/97 while the original Ampex suit is scheduled to go to trial on 3/31/97. The usual caveat applies, i.e., subject to the usual court delays.
Also, those of you who are frustrated at Ampex's reluctance to adopt a higher KM profile, newswise, may find it useful to consider one of the realities of doing business in Silicon Valley, i.e., the shareholder's lawsuit. According to Karen, the average case costs about $9.5M to defend and/or settle. There is a Red Herring or Upside article that describes the way William Lerach, the acknowledged king of the shareholders lawsuit, and his law firm operates. Search those sites and I am sure you will come out with a better appreciation for the way that Bramson and his crew have consistently under-promised and over delivered on KM. Right now, lawyers like Lerach can't touch AXC. And you should be glad.
Interesting fact: B.R. Gooch came out of retirement and now acts as
a full-time consultant. Incidentally, R.W. Wood, one of the co-inventors of one of the 1991 KM patents, is now with IBM but is on some kind of leave and is working with the Data Storage Institute - an industry research group financed by the Singaporean government, which through Singapore Technologies also owns Micropolis.I got this factoid from perusing the program for InterMag '97 which also contains some more articles on KM from the usual suspects (see next post).
Re: MR and KM. I am now positive that RRomano617 and M.B. Ford MISUNDERSTOOD Karen when she mentioned that 20% capacity improvement on "...next generation heads." As I understand it, Karen provides information based on what AXC releases in the press and SEC filings, nothing more! Readrite, for example, is the largest merchant supplier of recording heads and here is its roadmap for TFI and MR heads for the next few quarters:
1) Advanced Inductive Head with undershoot reduction
a) 840-1.0 GB per platter
b) 1.3 GB per platter
2) Advanced Inductive Planar Head
a) 1.1 Gb/in2 = 1.6-1.7 GB per platter
b) 1.5 Gb/in2 = 2.0+ GB per platter
3) MR Head
a) 700 Mb/in2 = 1.0 GB per platter
b) 1.2 Gb/in2 = 1.7 GB per platter
It is not a black and white world of inductive OR MR heads. There are advances being made in TFI even towards the end of its projected useful life!
Incidentally, it is worth repeating Wayne's excellent point regarding how the fact that no other deals have been announced doesn't necessarily mean that the other drive makers have not been working on KM. Remember that AXC initially approached Maxtor and 2 other major drive makers, who all indicated that a keepered drive program was indeed possible in 1997. Also, at least 2 other drive makers approached AXC indicating an interest in KM. While there are minor variations in the operations of these drive makers, they all have access to the same technologies, the same manufacturing techniques, etc. It is fair to assume that if Maxtor can rollout a keepered drive program later this year then the other drive makers CAN do the same.
Whether the other drive makers will do it sooner rather than later probably has to more with issues of licensing and reselling rather than the merits of the technology, as Hal astutely pointed out. Even then, with the sheer upside of KM alone, aren't you willing to wait to see how it plays out? |
