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Technology Stocks : Quantum Disk Drives (HDD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Adams who wrote (13)	9/21/1999 8:26:00 AM
From: Alan Casey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 179

I am not sure if this is significant, but may be of interest. QUANTUM)(HDD) Quantum Corporation Expands New Line of Low-Cost Desktop Drives Adding 10Gb Per Platter Fireball Lct 10 Business Editors/High-Tech Writers MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 1999-- First Generation 8.6GB Per Platter Fireball lct is in Full Production, Keeping Quantum Ahead of Q4 Demand for Low-Cost, Reliable, High Capacity Drives Raising the bar once again for low-cost, reliable, high capacity desktop drives, Quantum Corporation's Hard Disk Drive Group (NYSE:HDD) today announced the expansion of its newly created Fireball lct line with the addition of the Fireball lct 10. This 10GB per disk configuration features leading areal density and technology advancements in the low-cost, desktop drive arena, meeting market requirements in the fast growing sub-$700 PC market. Quantum's first generation Fireball lct platform was introduced in late July and entered mass production in early September. All of the top-10 PC OEMs have committed to qualify the lct platform, with many of them taking shipments of the 8.6GB Fireball lct product by the end of September. The 10GB per disk line extension will be in mass production in October. "With the successful launch of the Fireball lct platform, we are now extending our low-cost line to continue bringing the highest-quality, lowest-cost desktop products to market," said John Gannon, president of Quantum's Hard Disk Drive Group. "Moving to the new 10GB per platter capacity point is resonating well with our customers who value consistency and ease of integration from one generation to the next. "These increased capacity points will begin to show up in systems in time for the holiday selling season, and in consumer and commercial machines beginning in calendar year 2000." The Fireball lct platform incorporates Quantum's new Shock Protection System II (SPS II), Data Protection System (DPS), Ultra ATA/66 interface and is the fourth generation of desktop drives featuring giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads. The 5,400 RPM lct platform provides superior value and reliability at preferred capacity points. The 8.6GB per platter Fireball lct ranges in capacity from 4.3GB to 26GB while the new 10GB per platter Fireball lct 10 ranges in capacity from 5GB to 30GB. Offering PC OEMs a wide range of capacity points that require only one drive qualification for a variety of systems is one of several key selling points for the Fireball lct. This simplified qualification process is designed to save OEMs valuable time and money, allowing them to build their systems faster and meet the requirements of the market. The fact that Quantum has been able to stay atop the technology and reliability curve, while remaining at the low-end on the price charts, has not gone unnoticed by its OEM and channel customers. "We are eager to start taking shipments of the Fireball lct this month based on the positive feedback we have received from VARs we do business with," said Phil Roussey, senior vice president of marketing for Bell Microproducts, a national distributor headquartered in San Jose. "The Fireball lct clearly addresses our need to provide low-cost, reliable and leading-edge storage solutions at a broad range of capacities for our customers." James Wang, CEO for international VAR East Gate Micro, Inc., said Quantum's lct line strikes the right balance between providing a wide range of capacity points with quality and low cost. "The variety of capacity points allows us to provide our customers with more choices for a storage configuration that best serves them," Wang said. "I definitely see this strategy creating a great demand for the Fireball lct line among VARs. Quantum has done the industry a great favor by introducing the Fireball lct line." SPS II and DPS The quality and reliability factors in the Fireball lct line are achieved through a combination of technological advances developed by Quantum. The new SPS II minimizes field failure rates by protecting against incidents of physical shock that can cause serious damage to disks and data. SPS II provides a higher resistance to shock than the first generation SPS, resulting in greater drive reliability with fewer returns. This leads to a significant reduction in processing and replacement costs. The Fireball lct line also features Quantum-pioneered DPS, a comprehensive diagnostic test that is embedded in the Fireball lct and is also downloadable from the Internet for use on older Quantum drives dating back to 1996. Availability Customer evaluation units for the Fireball lct 10 are currently available. The Fireball lct 10 will be in mass production in October.