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Microcap & Penny Stocks : JTS- "A Nordic Drive in Every PC and laptop" -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Krafcsik who wrote (1928)	8/27/1998 12:14:00 AM
From: ExtraBases	Respond to of 1985

A couple of great finds by JBBJR Quite an interesting read. (JTS is not mentioned.) <<< Oh, please someone. Tell us that Connors and Mitchell are friends and that JTS will be the contract manufacturer for this! Conner Returns To The Drive Market (08/11/98; 10:14 a.m. ET) By Joseph F. Kovar, Computer Reseller News Two years after his last company was swallowed up by Seagate Technology, Finis Conner is preparing his return to the hard disk-drive market. Conner Technology, based in San Jose, Calif., but with a parent company incorporated in Ireland, is expected to use a contract manufacturer to produce fixed hard disk drives targeted at the sub-$1,000 PC market, according to company officials. Conner Technology will be led by Conner, who will serve as chairman and CEO. Joining him as president is Peter Knight, who formerly served as senior vice president at both Seagate Technology, in Scotts Valley, Calif., and the old Conner Peripherals. "Yes, we are getting back in the hard disk-drive business," Conner told CRN. "But we see us traveling another way than what people are used to. It wouldn't make sense to do it the way others are doing it now." Conner Technology is focused on bringing to the sub-$1,000 PC market "products that will match the quality and level of service consumers demand," Conner said. The company's goal was echoed by Knight. The sub-$1,000 PC market is a low-end hard disk-drive market, he said. "Our objective is to produce a low-cost product that sets new standards for performance. We believe the current suppliers are not suitable for this market. They have expenses for marketing [and so on] which won't fit the new [sub-$1,000] model." Although he does not like using the words "virtual disk-drive company," Knight said, it is used by industry observers to describe Conner Technology "because we don't intend to own our own factory. On the development side, we're [going to] utilize the capabilities of our component suppliers for the [product] development." Knight said the company's drives will be produced in the Far East, but he did not specify in which country. Few details of Conner Technology's products have been made available. "We expect our technology will not be on the bleeding edge, but they will be close to the capacity of the other vendors for one- or two-disk products," Knight said. Conner Technology is already talking to potential customers about the product specifications, Knight said. "We have specification sheets we've shared with customers," he said. "But since we are a private company, and since we're relying on OEMs [original equipment manufacturers, as potential customers], we see no need for press releases now." >>> --Dennis

To: David Krafcsik who wrote (1928)	8/27/1998 12:23:00 AM
From: ExtraBases	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1985

Other great find by JBBJR Many thanx to JBBJR.... <<< The good news: still makin' drives as of 7/21. From an Indian Newspaper: Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, July 21, 1998 \| Next \| Previous \| Page One Corporate Industry Opinion Stocks Agri-Business Freight News Info-Tech Pocket Banking & Finance Marketing Index News JTS Tech trims staff to cut costs Date: 21-07-1998 :: Pg: 01 :: Col: a R. Balaji CHENNAI, July 20 JTS Technologies Ltd (JTSTL), the multi-crore hard disk drive manufacturing unit located in the Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), has drastically pruned its work force as a cost cutting measure. The company had to resort to retrenchment as a last resort, since it was a question of survival, according to Mr. Harpal Gill, Managing Director of JTS. JTSTL, a subsidiary of JTS Corporation of the US, has in the last three months brought down its workforce from around 5,300 to about 2,000, as a result of the recession in the market for disk drives and personal computers. The JTS unit being a new one was particularly hard hit, added Dr. Harpal. The unit actually had 8,000 workers on the rolls about a year ago, but it had been cutting down on employee strength because of the recession. It had managed without retrenchment initially, and had simply stopped reappointing workers in the place of those who left. Being a ''high turnover job because of the young workforce'', it had helped to bring down the employee numbers significantly, he said. Under the circumstances prevailing in this sector, the company had to bring down the production of disk drives in order to cut expense and improve ''chances of survival''. Otherwise, it would have had to take on the industry majors ''head on''. These established units had the capacity to put a low cost product in the market, therefore instead of competing with them, the company was in the process of establishing a niche market for itself, he said. Towards this end, the JTSTL was in negotiations with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) for contract manufacturing ''to get visibility from them''. Further, discussions were at an advanced stage with ''key OEMs in video game business''. At present the unit was manufacturing about 1,500-2,000 drives per day and ''some of them were being marketed in India'', he added. JTSTL is rapidly indigenising the components requirement of its disk drive assemblies, and once this was achieved, it would provide a 25 per cent cost advantage through savings on labour and freight. In addition, the unit has a standing purchase order from Compaq for 1.2 million drives. The Chennai site of JTSTL had been qualified by Compaq and, two drives are in the process of receiving Compaq qualification, according to Dr. Harpal. JTSTL is the sole manufacturing unit servicing the parent company's global market. The assembling plant has been set up with an investment of Rs. 120 crores. The unit commenced operation in March, 1995 and was then estimated to the third largest company in information technology and export in India. In the two years between 1995-96 and 1996-97, its revenue increased from Rs. 93 crores to Rs. 627 crores, with a net foreign exchange inflow of 12 per cent. Pic. caption: TRIMMING THE WORKFORCE: Inside JTS Technologies, Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ). Pic. credit: Bijoy Ghosh >>> --Dennis