Hybrid Drives Boost Demands for NAND Flash Memory
blogs.business2.com
Seagate: Extreme makeover coming soon for PC hard drives
As soon as three or four years from now, most of the latest PCs will blend hard drives with flash memory in a new type of hybrid drive, says Bill Watkins, CEO of Seagate (STX), the world's top maker of hard drives. It was the first time I've heard an industry executive give an estimate for when the technology will go mainstream.
Watkins said he expects the hybrid drives to come with between 8 and 10 gigabytes of flash memory.
Several major hard drives makers have announced plans to sell hybrid drives. Samsung began shipping its MH80 hybrid drive last month with 128-256 megabytes of flash paired with 80-160 GB of hard drive storage.
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If Watkins's prediction about hybrid drives bears out, it could have a profound effect on the flash market, and thus the consumer electronics market as a whole. Worldwide, nearly 250 million PCs shipped in 2006; if just 200 million ship with hybrid drives in 2011, it could significantly boost demand for the NAND flash memory produced by the likes of Samsung, the Toshiba - SanDisk (SNDK) partnership, and the Intel (INTC) - Micron Technology (MU) partnership. That in turn could allow those companies to offer cheap, high-capacity storage for cell phones and other mobile media devices. (Think high-definition camcorders with built-in flash storage and flash card expansion, mobile TiVo, and iPhones with much more than 8 GB of storage.) |
