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To: Z Analyzer who wrote (5038)	11/16/1997 1:46:00 PM
From: Harold Halpern	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9124

To: Pooky As I long time lurker with little to contribute I thank the many informed participants who make reading this thread a habit for me. Could someone explain and evaluate Paul Wick's statement in the November 10th Barrons: "To accomplish the redundancy of code you need for Year 2000 compliance testing, You end up having to literally double your data-storage requirements" (as grounds for recommending EMC). Is he really saying Year 2000 is a bonanza for storage companies?

To: Z Analyzer who wrote (5038)	11/16/1997 5:40:00 PM
From: Gus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9124

Z, Here's a recent overview of the tape drive scene. HWP and SEG (via Conner) were the 2 top leading tape vendors in 1996, in unit terms, so that may partly explain why IBM, which pioneered the computer datatape market, decided to work together with them. MARKET PROJECTIONS ...Hewlett-Packard was probably the world's leading tape vendor in 1996, according to research conducted by IDG and cited by an HP spokesman. Including its Colorado Memory Products division, HP had more than 40 percent of the entire tape market--meaning all tape formats from the smallest to the largest capacities. Seagate, which absorbed tape-maker Conner Peripherals in 1996, had almost 25 percent; and third-place Iomega Corp. about 12 percent. A Freeman Associates study suggests that demand for tape products will continue to rise. The market for DLT, Freeman predicts,could nearly double by 2001, from 142,000 drives shipped in 1996 to about 372,000 in 1999. Freeman also sees increasing demand for DAT, from 1.4 million units shipped in 1996 to some 2 million in 2001. For 8mm, over the same time, they anticipate shipments growing from 210,000 to 336,000... Note: annual demand figures 209.43.34.82 If Quantum is correct that 8mm's limited real estate would make it difficult for a competitor, you have to wonder why this format would be chosen (perhaps this is the format for VCR for HDTV so that these drives can be based on the same decks?) DLT is 1/2" (5.25 form factor) so it has more real estate than 8mm (3.5" and 5.25" form factors). Helical scan recorders and linear recorders share the same attribute in that in order to increase speed and capacity one has to generally add more recording heads. A linear recorder, however, will also require an increase in tape speed (DLT 4000 - 110 ips; 7000 - 150 ips). A helical scan recorder, on the other hand, relies on the relative tape speed (the effect produced by a slow moving tape - up to 6 ips - moving against a rotating cylinder on which the heads and channel electronics are mounted - up to 5000 rpm - and around which the slow-moving tape is partially wrapped. A useful thing to keep in mind the next time your VCR eats a videotape. A linear format like DLT currently has an advantage in durability because the heads are basically stationary (or have limited movement as in the case of the DLT 7000). It remains to be seen, however, if QNTM can maintain that same durability advantage as they increase tape speed over the next few years. Using IBM's Magstar (10 MB/sec + 10 GB) and Philips' NCTP (10 MB/sec + 20 GB) as benchmarks, it would seem that this may not be an issue for the 10 MB/sec version of DLT, but may be a major factor beyond that.