Below is todays WSJ article re STX. I am long WDC and STX and have been for some time. It seems to me that health of disk drive companies requires DD technology to stay competitive with flash, so that flash doesn't overly encroach into areas of present DD advantage (high capacity, low cost). It seems to me that DD technology is doing so, though I could certainly be wrong. Any thoughts?
Best, Mark
Drive Makers Cram
More Data Capacity
On New Disk Devices
By DON CLARK
June 7, 2006; Page D5
Disk-drive makers are introducing products that cram even more data onto the ubiquitous storage devices, as they compete with the "flash memory" technology that is becoming common in consumer electronics.
Seagate Technology Inc., the largest maker of disk drives, today is unleashing 10 new products, including drives that combine -- and compete with -- chip-based alternatives to spinning disks.
Companies also are talking up their progress in squeezing more bits of data onto each disk. Toshiba Corp. on Monday said it expects in August to begin shipping a drive that can store 178.8 gigabits of data a square inch -- a gigabit equals one billion bits -- compared with 133 gigabits for current products by Seagate and others. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies last year said it has achieved storage densities of 230 gigabits a square inch, though products based on that technology aren't expected until 2007.
Shrink to fit: Seagate's tiny disk drive for cellphones.
The latest achievements are made possible by a technology called perpendicular recording, which arranges bits vertically, rather than horizontally, to fit more on a disk. The technique has increased the rate of capacity improvements by drive makers, which face competition from flash-memory chip technology that is more shock-resistant than disk storage but also more expensive.
Seagate has been particularly aggressive in offering products that compete with flash cartridges, which are used in cameras, cellphones and "thumb drives" that help users store and transfer personal-computer files. The company in July plans to begin selling a $149 pocket disk drive that stores eight gigabytes of data, up from a maximum of six gigabytes on current models. Seagate says the new capacity could allow a user to carry as much as 133 hours of digital music, 2,560 digital photos, eight hours of digital video or four PC games.
WALL STREET JOURNAL VIDEO
WSJ's Peter Grant interviews Seagate Technology CEO Bill Watkins about the new-product launch.The company also is announcing plans for a hybrid drive for laptop computers that combines 160 gigabytes of disk storage with 256 megabytes of flash memory, a feature designed to allow computers to wake up from their "sleep" mode about 20% faster than disk drives alone. When combined with Microsoft Corp.'s Vista operating system due out next year, such hybrid drives can allow a portable PC to boot up in 10 seconds or less -- a big time saver for portable PC users, said Bill Watkins, Seagate's chief executive officer. "Our sense is if you could get a 10-second boot time you would buy a new notebook," Mr. Watkins said.
Seagate also is pushing the envelope at the high end, offering some of the first drives that can store 750 gigabytes of data -- up from a 500-gigabyte maximum capacity the company unveiled last September. That drive, designed for consumers to back up photos, music and other media files, carries a list price of $559.
|
