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Technology Stocks : Disk Drive Sector Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Oliver who wrote (4412)	9/10/1998 11:51:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 9256

Seagate showing strength today, up 1 1/4 as I write. The group doesn't look like they want to participate in the down mood of the day. Are we getting near the bottom? News on Quantum. Looks like they are having great success with Bigfoot. Planning to gain further market share in low-end PC's. Quantum Announces Moves to Strengthen Desktop Hard Drive Business Business Wire - September 10, 1998 08:45 MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 1998--Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ/NMS:QNTM), the world's leading supplier of hard disk drives (HDDs) for desktop PCs, today announced improvements designed to further strengthen the company's leadership position in the HDD market. According to Young Sohn, president of Quantum's Enterprise and Personal Storage Group, Quantum is adapting its HDD operating model to changes in the personal computer HDD market. "During the past three quarters, we've seen a significant expansion in the market for low-cost PCs," said Sohn. "Given the growth of this new market, we are refining both our desktop HDD product roadmap and adjusting our HDD business operating model in order to aggressively extend our leadership in the desktop space." Quantum's desktop product roadmap will focus attention on two specific segments of the HDD market: the value segment and the performance segment. For the value segment -- where Quantum's Bigfoot(TM) family of 5.25-inch drives already have 30 percent market share -- the company has initiated development of lower-cost storage solutions targeted at the requirements of next-generation value PCs. Simultaneously, Quantum will continue building momentum in the performance segment of the desktop HDD market with its Fireball(TM) family, the industry's most successful line of high-performance, high-capacity 3.5-inch drives. Fireball drives have been distinguished within the industry for high quality, fastest time-to-volume and fastest ramps to high-volume manufacturing. Currently the newest product in this family, the Fireball EX, is in qualification or shipping at all of the top PC original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These products are exhibiting up to 30 percent greater performance than same-generation competitive products and 60 percent lower defect rates than Quantum's previous generation products due to improvements made with Quantum's SPS(TM) shock protection system. Changes to the company's HDD operating model include plans to reduce product complexity through fewer combinations of head/media and motor sources; to initiate some product shipments from Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics, Ltd. (MKE), Quantum's manufacturing partner for hard disk drives, directly to some customer sites; and to increase reliability and reduce annualized failure rates (AFRs) through design and process improvements. As a result of these operational improvements, Quantum expects to improve its asset utilization and realize approximately $60 million in annualized expense reduction in the HDD business. These actions include a workforce reduction that will occur primarily through attrition and delayed hiring, with 113 employees directly impacted. "Our strong position with top PC OEMs and worldwide distribution partners is the foundation for our continued success in the desktop drive market," Sohn said. "Building on that, we are focusing our desktop HDD roadmap and operating model with the goals of reducing product complexity and improving both product quality and delivery flexibility. We expect these improvements to result not only in lower expenses associated with development, manufacturing and warranty of products for Quantum, but also in increased satisfaction for our customers." Founded in 1980, Quantum Corporation (www.quantum.com) is a diversified mass storage company with leadership positions in both fixed and removable storage markets. Quantum is the highest volume global supplier of hard disk drives for personal computers and the worldwide revenue leader among all classes of tape drives. The company sells a broad range of storage products to OEM and distribution customers worldwide Quantum's sales for the fiscal year ending March 1998 were 5.8 billion. Statements in this release regarding adjustments to the company's hard disk drive business operating model, operational improvements to be instituted by the company and increased satisfaction for the company's products may be deemed to be forward looking and actual results could vary as a result of the following factors: The ability of the company to effectively implement certain planned operational improvements; the competitive pricing environment in the hard disk drive market; MKE manufacturing risks; and overall demand for the company's storage products. CONTACT: Quantum Holly Campbell, 408/894-5058 (Public Relations) holly.campbell@qntm.com Renee Budig, 408/894-5563 (Investor Relations) renee.budig@qntm.com