Hugh- I think we will know who has incorporated the keepered media into their drives before the drives hit the street. The first indication would be a new product line, using MR-heads, with a substantial capacity increase with only a moderate price increase. Also, Data Storage tends to find out the details on new designs well before the general public does. I just feel that the drive manufacturers who choose Ampex's "keepered" media will prefer to not disclose this fact, at least to give them some lead time in gearing up for design and production. They probably realize their competition will figure it out eventually, but why in the world would you give them advanced notice? By the time someone does figure out they've used it, they are at least a few months ahead of someone who hasn't. And in the highly competitve disk drive industry, any advantage you can get could really help.
One question I have is what company will be depositing the soft "keeper" layer on the conventional recording medium, using conventional sputtering equipment? A few companies that specialize in deposition of thin films are: Sputtered Films, Inc., Diamonex (maybe), the ALTA Group, Ion Tech, Inc., n&k Technology, Inc., Veeco, Intevac, and Commonwealth Scientific Corporation. One or more of these companies will surely profit from teaming with Ampex to produce the "keepered" media. |
