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To: Stitch who wrote (7319)	2/14/1998 12:02:00 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9124

Stitch, >By having control over heads, media, AND the resulting disk drive, decisions about the interplay of characteristics can be more readily determined IMO.< At Big Blue I worked in "Component Integration" in San Jose and interaction with the head/disk/channel design and manufacturing groups (the most important aspect of the job) took no more effort than walking to the office next door, upstairs or in another building. I cannot imagine another, more efficient setup. However, BB probably was not the low cost producer in the component area then. This may have changed. GM

To: Stitch who wrote (7319)	2/14/1998 11:23:00 PM
From: Chuck Bleakney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9124

Its my experience that having too many design choices or too few design choices complicates the design process. Too few and you spend a lot of time trying to push the limits of what you've got. To many and you spend too much time trying to decide which parameters to push or get trapped by some part of the process not meeting expectations... and to hedge and try to play with too many will bring the design process to a snails pace. Speed (time to market) only comes when the architecture or management reduces the options to a reasonable set. Chuck

To: Stitch who wrote (7319)	2/21/1998 2:08:00 PM
From: Alan Hume	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9124

Hi Stitch, "<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.>> I have been out of town all week and have had no time to read the threads. As you took so much effort in backing up your point of view on vertical integration I think it fair to answer you, allbeit belatedly. Your arguments are not without merit. However all these things I feel can be taken care of by outside vendors. For starters, vendors are much more attentive to their customers whims than those from in-house. You have hit the nail on the head when you say that the A/D conversion in a HDD is a very complex issue involving many stages and components. It is very unlikely that the in-house resources are going to be leading edge at any one time for all components. By not being vertically integrated, you can far quicker adapt other companies advancements into your design, save a whole bunch of money too, AND avoid all the political and philosophical inter department bitching. Believe me, the latter costs an awful lot of time REgards Alan