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

To: La Traguhs who wrote (4606)	10/2/1998 1:50:00 AM
From: Gottfried	Respond to of 9256

LT, RDRT was up yesterday and today. Strange. GM [end]

To: La Traguhs who wrote (4606)	10/2/1998 9:46:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

Applid Kenetics is a group of 5 ex-Hitchinson engineers who have made a machine that will bond FOS to a suspension. Some would say this is not big deal. Still, Innovex who appears to be the second most popular wireless solution after TSA is using it. Their business model of sending flex circuits to customers and letting them do the bonding adds cost and uncertainty to the customer. Seagate likes it, but it would seem to be an obstacle to others. AKI has an exclusive arrangement to make the machine which was in the lawsuit for Innovex. When it was announced that the lawsuit was settled, Innovex rallied 2 points, but that has almost been given back. Innovexdid not have to pay anything to make the settlement. Anyway, Innovex had the machine at Diskcon and they demoed it for everyone and they think it has taken them that step further to acceptance. Read Rite has their own bonding solution as do 3M and Seagate. Hutchinson claims the fact that their circuit has the flexure built into the circuit makes it more stable and lighter. Bonding is less precise. This is clearly disputed and I don't have the answer except to say the majority of new programs go with TSA. Interesting thing about TSA, and CIS for that matter is they cut short of replacing wires by ending at the suspension. A new element called a bridge flex come into play which is a short flex circuit. Again, it adds about 30 cents to the cost of TSA and gives valuable work to FOS makers. Hutch showed a lot of TSA's at Diskcon with tails which would complete the circuit, but again it's a cost trade off of trying to make a TSA that is longer, or use a bridge flex. Regards, Mark