Charlie, I agree that the sub-K computer and its predecessor are not where you would find Adaptec's products, but it appears that the move toward sub-K by the large computer OEMs has brought prices down across the board, a trend abetted by the competition in the chip market among Intel, AMD, and Cyrix. Disk drive manufacturers have been swept along with that pricing river, I think, to remain competitive. While the OEMs have been raking in the dough, their suppliers (AMD is an example)--actually their enablers--have suffered to some extent. Quantum is an example:
techweb.com
"The company blamed the higher-than-expected charges on price declines in the high-end hard disk drive market, which has forced the company to reduce inventory."
If the high-end disk drive market hurt Quantum, Seagate, WD, it almost certainly affected Adaptec as well.
The companies may have to lower prices to increase volume at lower margin. Just a guess. I'm no expert.
Starowl
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