Allen,
<<What's so great about vertical integration? In Todays world it is not the big who eat the little, but the fast who eat the slow. IMO vertical integration does not enhance speed, just the opposite.>>
Allen,
I agree with your contention that it is the fast that eat the slow. It is especially true of technology companies and I am a true "new warrior" believer. I do not agree with your contention that vertical integration slows down the process though and since you didn't say I am not sure why you contend that it does.
Let me try to explain why I think vertical integration in this industry is important. It helps to appreciate what drive design constraints exist, specifically the read/write chain and all the reciprocities that exist when you change one characterisitc of the design. For example, a half microinch change in the flying height of a given head can make a very big difference in requirements for the pre amp, the media, the positioner, the flex circuit, etc etc. Remember this is a product that takes analogue to digital in a very complicated series of operations. The measurement of heads and media is typically expressed in parametrics that are analogue, such as signal to noise ratio, track average amplitude, pulse width, etc. Heads and media are products of very complicated processes. Any one change in a long list of variables in the process of either can have a dramatic effect on the product characteristics. Buyers don't care if you fly low or high, use PRML codes or RLL codes, use MR or GMR, nor do they care about gap width, pole tip recession, coercivity, film thickness, or any of these. They care about price, delivery, capacity, seek performance, and reliabilty/support.
By having control over heads, media, AND the resulting disk drive, decisions about the interplay of characteristics can be more readily determined IMO. In an outside merchant relationship this isn't so, in spite of all the "rah rah" about "virtual" integration.
Finally, heads and media makers typically operate at higher margins then do drive vendors. My conclusion is that the real technical and economic fulcrum in the DD industry lies in the heads and the media (with a nod to the pre amp designers).
best ,
Stitch |
