Hal:
I don't think AXC will drop its KM program altogether if they don't
get a contract this year mainly because I think the inductive head
disk drive is going to get a fresh lease on life when the NetPC vs
NC battle heats up. Quantum, for example, is using a new value
class of inductive head disk drive in a sub-$1,000 PC project. Also,
I think that at some point Iomega and Syquest are going to take
a good, hard look at KM. After all, Iomega's Jaz and the entire
EZ product line of Syquest use the same basic technology as the
ubiquitous Winchester disk drive.
I agree with you that the DSTproducts are promising as evidenced
by the year-to-year growth of the business. I believe, though, that
Ampex still suffers from the perception that it's money-losing past
has hindered its ability to improve its products AND to provide
adequate support. Even though AXC offers very competitive
products (see attached link and excerpts), people are understandably
leery of committing to the products of a company that may or may
not be there.
A successful KM product would certainly do wonders for AXC's
profile and would also provide the cash flow for more R&D not
only into KM+MR, but also for the mass storage line and the
video production line.
What do you think?
Regards,
Gus
Excerpts from tek.com
This is a white paper from the Tektronix web site.
Manufacturer Model lData Rate Cart. Capacity
Ampex DST-310 9 MB/s 165 GB
Exabyte Mammoth 3 MB/s 20 GB
IBM 3590 9 MB/s 10 GB
Quantum DLT-70005 2 MB/s 35 GB
Sony DTF 12 MB/s 43 GB
StorageTek Redwood 11 MB/s 50 GB
Table 1. Leading Manufacturers in Data Tape
The Ampex DST 310 drive is a helical scan transport based on the popular DCT digital video tape recorder/player. It is a very reliable, very high speed drive with sustained data throughput as high as 15 megabytes per second. It also boasts cartridge capacities as high as 165 gigabytes.
The DST 310 is designed specifically to handle the rigors of video and audio data storage. And handle them it does.
If a typical video stream is compressed to 24 megabits per second, at a speed of 15 megabytes per second, the Ampex DST 310 can record or playout video and audio at a whopping 5 times faster than real-time. This means that your 60 minute program will be transferred from tape back to disk in only 12 minutes, freeing the drive up for other tasks much sooner.
A drive with a high data rate can do more work in a smaller amount of time than a drive operating at a lower data rate. But what is really important is that the owner can more quickly recoup the higher price of the drive. When all is said and done, the high data rate, large capacity drives provide large storage capacities, super-fast data rates, and the potential for greater operating efficiencies, but with a high price tag.
On the linear head technology side of the fence, the IBM 3590 drive is a model citizen. This drive has Indy-car speed with a sustained data rate of 9 megabytes per second. While its cartridge capacity is admittedly small at 10 gigabytes, the drive is highly reliable and comes from a premier computer manufacturer with excellent world-wide service and support. Helping somewhat to offset the bad mark it receives for small cartridge capacity, the IBM 3590 gets a thumbs-up for being priced considerably less than Ampex DST 310 or the StorageTek Redwood. |
