Too true, too true. Sorry for the typo. That figure is taken from a much earlier post, somewhere after 1000 I think, and maybe from Gus, which talked about how the disk drive industry is making a BIG transition to MR this year, even tho IBM, the acknowledged leader of the pack, is only getting about 65% working drives off of their MR line, and they're by far in front! Quantum is only at 15-20% I recall, and Seagate was somewhere in the middle. gives added weight to AXC's mention that KM can IMPROVE YIELDS as well as make a simpler MR head possible, plus reduce the inherently volatile and unstable magnetization of MR read platters. PLUS, they're doing some very beginning research into FIELD CONFINEMENT HEADS, which could be a better head than MR, both price, simplicity, and performance wise! Keep in mind tho, that Ampex INVENTED MR back in 68 or so, and so FC heads may not be in the market for a long time, tho I dare say if they work they won't have to wait the 25 years that MR did.
Some encouraging words from the 94 Ampex report, taken from Chairman Bramson's letter (surprising how much I'm driven to research and reresearch this baby since the price is SOOO undervalued);
"Ampex spends a significant amount on R&D. This investment remains an important part of our strategy, because AXC engineers consistently conceive and execute ideas not explored anywhere else. An important example from 94 was the perfection of a new design for the recording heads used in our 19mm tape designs.... I have now been involved with Ampex for several years (he bought the company he liked it so much and then rebrought it public) and yet the depth and breadth of technology that we generate still astounds me. Now that some of the basic business issues that have confronted the co have been dealt with, we intend to use this tremendous strategic asset- our technology- to pus us on the path to high growth. Accordingly, at the end of 94 we initiated a program to apply the results of our continuing research in recording media and head design to radically improve the performance of todays computer disk drives. We're evaluating the feasibility of a new design which could be more practical than other alternatives,such as MR recording, which are being pursued by other companies looking to occupy the same market."
My guess is here he's referring to at least KM, and maybe FC heads, and they mentioned at the road show the possibility of new chips and channel electronics. This baby is just starting to roll! Arm them with a few hundreds of millions from KM, and watch out Seagate, WD and Quantum!
Looked at todays intraday trading by Lombard, and there's only one trade that could've been institutional. Plus, we're only at ~7.5% Inst. ownership, meaning it could be all up from here once they're given a dumb, already obvious reason to get in months late. Smart Money is Big Money?????? Duh.... |
