Prospects of hybrid HDDs in notebook market: Q&A with Seagate's Teh Ban-seng
Erica Yen, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES [Monday 21 June 2010]
digitimes.com
Seagate Technology on May 24, 2010 unveiled Momentus XT drive, a hybrid hard disk drive (HDD) series that combines 7,200rpm hard disk platters and a 4GB SSD (solid-state drive) made of SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash based on Seagate-developed Adaptive Memory technology, for built-in or external applications for notebooks. Such hybrid devices' penetration in the notebook market is expected to increase from 5-8% in 2010 to 10% in 2012, said Seagate's Asia Pacific and Japan vice president and sales/marketing managing director Teh Ban-seng during a recent interview by Digitimes.
Q: The capacity of HDDs has reached the TB (terabyte) level, but it seems that competition for further expanding capacity has slowed down. Is the offering of hybrid HDDs a strategy in response to the possibility that HDD capacity expansion is reaching its limits?
A: No. Hybrid HDDs are an innovative and cost-effective product line. But Seagate is still developing HDDs with higher capacities to meet market demand.
Q: Will hybrid SSDs affect the market penetration of SSDs? Seagate also provides SSDs. What is the difference between the two product lines' target markets?
A: Notebook PCs equipped with SSDs hit the market two to three years ago. But SSDs' penetration in the notebook market is currently as low as 2-3% because the storage cost per unit is too high. Hybrid HDDs, due to its performance and cost competitiveness, may impact the adoption of SSDs in notebooks. But Seagate's SSDs chiefly cater to enterprise users and there are no conflicts with the hybrid HDD market.
Q: Why does Seagate use only a 4GB SSD for the Momentus XT drive?
A: If the capacity of the built-in SSD increases to 32GB or 40GB, the entire operating system can be installed in it to shorten the boot time. But out of consideration for a balance between cost and performance, Seagate chose 4GB to match a 250GB, 320GB or 500GB HDD. According to tests, the boot time is 18 seconds for a SSD, 60 seconds for a 5,400rpm HDD and 23 seconds for the Momentus XT drive. Although 23 seconds is longer than 18 seconds, 4GB is an optimal balance point between cost and performance. Seagate will keep an eye on the market acceptance and NAND flash price changes and will introduce next-generation hybrid solutions of different combinations.
Q: What are the price gap between hybrid HDDs and HDDs of the same capacities?
A: In the US retail market, a 250GB 7,200rpm HDD sells at US$70-80 and a 250GB hybrid HDD at US$113, with a price gap of US$30-40. But for OEM clients, Seagate has different pricing depending on the form of cooperation.
Q: Can hybrid HDDs be applied to tablet PCs or e-book readers?
A: Since Tablet PCs, e-book readers or smartphones do not need as large storage capacities as notebook PCs, 32-64GB SSDs are the best storage solutions for these devices for the time being. However, vendors of tablet PCs or e-book readers may adopt hybrid HDDs in place of SSDs for market segmentation.
Q: Hitachi-LG Data Storage recently offered HyDrive, the world's first Blu-ray Disc (BD) combo equipped with a built-in SSD. What is the difference between HyDrive and a hybrid HDD?
A: HyDrive is an OEM component to be built into a notebook PC or other portable devices, whereas hybrid HDDs, in addition to OEM use, can be externally plugged to old PCs for upgrade in storage capacity and thus can be sold in aftermarkets.
Q: What are Seagate's marketing strategies for hybrid HDDs?
A: There are two target markets for hybrid HDDs, the major one being cooperation with system makers of high-performance notebooks and the minor being retail sales. Seagate has been negotiating with main international vendors or ODM makers, as well as educating retail partners for sales promotion in the aftermarket. |
