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Technology Stocks : Ampex Corporation (AEXCA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ray who wrote (12988)	12/9/1999 10:05:00 AM
From: Dave Heibeck	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17679

Breaking through 6...I'm shocked!

To: Ray who wrote (12988)	12/9/1999 10:35:00 AM
From: Glenn Perry	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17679

Thanks for the info, Ray. I suspect 'gunk' will be a major concern with these new smartcards, since the technology will be like what is used in a hard drive. The heads will probably be rotated over the card, and very close to the card surface. I seem to recall the keeper layer allows increased flying heights, and they may decide to sacrifice data capacity for greater head to media spacing to reduce the effect of 'gunk' on the card surface. In the present technology used in swiping cards, is the head spaced a set distance from the card? Or does it come in contact with the magnetic stripe? I recall pictures of what smoke and dust particles look like under magnification on a disk surface. The heads are so close to the media, it would be like crashing your car into a high-rise building.

To: Ray who wrote (12988)	12/9/1999 11:07:00 AM
From: Glenn Perry	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

I found an old post made about keepered media several years ago concerning an Oct '96 article in "Data Storage" on keepered media: "A couple of important benefits of using keepered media were addressed in the article. One was that as densities approach 10 GB per square inch, the data might become unstable over time. The keepered layer could reduce this demagetization making a more stable high-density storage system. Another point was that Ampex has been working with uncoated media supplied by outside vendors, then applying the keepered layer and testing the media. Apparently, the keepered system hasn't been optimized, and none of the keepered media tested were manufactured using a continuous disk deposition process. They then described several ways in which the system could be optimized, including using a thinner medium, optimizing proximity keepered media, and designing a keepered media to achieve gains with MR heads. I thought it was important when they said that keepered media could allow higher flying heights while increasing capacity, thereby reducing the durability concerns normally associated with low-flying or contact heads. As you lower the flying height of the head assembly, you increase the probability of crashing the hard drive. You also need a much stiffer head assembly." Keepered media is definitely a benefit in these dirty applications, charge card readers, ATM's, etc.