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

To: Mark Oliver who wrote (4756)	10/17/1998 6:24:00 PM
From: Stitch	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9256

Mark; Quantum's desktop strategy is Bigfoot. Best, Gary Monday September 21, 11:00 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Quantum Corporation Announces Industry's Highest Capacity Value-Class Desktop Drive New Quantum Bigfoot Drives Feature Lowest Cost Per Megabyte and Increased Reliability With Shock Protection System Technology MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1998-- Continuing its capacity and value leadership position in the desktop storage market and leveraging the fully automated capability of its manufacturing partner, Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. (MKE), Quantum Corporation (NMS:QNTM) today introduced the Bigfoot(TM) TS series of hard disk drives. These exceptionally affordable products feature mainstream performance and capacities of 6.4GB, 8.4GB, 12.7GB and 19.2GB. Bigfoot TS is the third Quantum product and the first 5.25-inch product to include Quantum's exclusive Shock Protection System (SPS), a technology advancement that addresses the industry-wide concern of hard disk drive reliability. Designed for consumers, small business owners and value-oriented commercial PC users, Quantum's Bigfoot TS offers generous storage capacity for software requirements such as desktop publishing, playing today's popular video games, storing electronic photographs, video streaming and many other capacity-craving applications. In addition to offering its customers the highest capacity desktop drive for the lowest cost per megabyte, Quantum, with its exclusive manufacturing partner, MKE, also ranks as the leading volume supplier. With its fully automated manufacturing processes, MKE quickly ramps one of the highest quality products to meet customer volume requirements. When combined, MKE's precision manufacturing processes and Quantum's new SPS make the Bigfoot TS one of the most reliable hard disk drive products on the market today. Bigfoot TS is the first generation Bigfoot family to feature SPS, or Shock Protection System. Quantum introduced SPS in April 1998 on Quantum's Fireball EL and subsequent Fireball EX hard disk drives. SPS is an exclusive technological advancement by Quantum, which optimizes the hard drive's design platform to protect against the impact of mishandling during shipping or integration into a PC. For more information on SPS, please refer to Quantum's web site at www.quantum.com. ''HP Brio customers want a reliable, aggressively-priced PC with a full range of price and performance choices,'' said Jean-Jacques Ozil, HP Brio marketing manager. ''By integrating Quantum's Bigfoot TS hard drive with its field-proven SPS technology, HP Brio again ups the ante for PC performance and reliability.'' ''We're very excited about Bigfoot TS because it offers our customers a winning combination of the highest capacity/value in the market today,'' said Barbara Nelson, Quantum's vice president and general manager of the Desktop and Personal Storage Group. ''With that combination and Quantum's commitment to provide safe storing and reliable delivery of our customer's data, the new Bigfoot TS is a solid storage option for consumers, small business and value-oriented commercial PC users.'' The new Quantum Bigfoot TS drives feature improved performance over previous generations with enhanced firmware and a 512KB buffer. The drives also feature the latest recording technology, including MR heads, a PRML read channel, high internal data rates and an Ultra ATA interface. The advanced technology delivers an extraordinary capacity of 6.4GB per platter, fast sequential performance and high reliability. The drives utilize the standard 5.25-inch footprint, and easily mount in virtually all 5.25-inch mass storage bays. Pricing and Availability Quantum Bigfoot TS volume production begins October 1998. The manufacturers suggested retail prices (MSRP) are: Quantum Bigfoot TS 6.4 Ultra ATA $169 Quantum Bigfoot TS 8.4 Ultra ATA $199 Quantum Bigfoot TS 12.7 Ultra ATA $299 Quantum Bigfoot TS 19.2 Ultra ATA $399

To: Mark Oliver who wrote (4756)	10/19/1998 11:40:00 AM
From: Z Analyzer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

Several weeks ago I read an article quoting one of the market research firms as saying that PC sales would slow dramatically in the second half of calendar 1999 as companies halted new purchases as the year 2000 approached. I don't recall where I read this, but believe it was one of the market research firms such as the Gartner Group which was being quoted. It seems very logical to me, that companies would cease changes to their information systems in time to be certain that everything had stabilized before the calendar rolled over to the year 2000. Has anyone else read anything about this and, if so, can you point to us to the source of this information? The article referred to a dramatic drop in PC sales in the second half of 1999. However, if this forecast is correct, the implications of this for investment in computer hardware or software companies during the upcoming year are enormous. It implies to me, that some of the high-flying stocks such as Dell Computer,' Cisco Systems, EMC, and probably Microsoft as well would be subject to sharp reductions in sales as all significant changes are put on hold until the new millennium. Of the disk drive companies, it seems that Seagate would be most impacted as a result of their high-end drive sales for servers and disk arrays. It is especially significant that year 2000 concerns are worldwide matter as opposed to impacting only certain international markets. Again, I would be curious whether anyone has read anything else on the subject. This forecast slowdown seems intuitively logical, and I am surprised that I have not seem more discussion of this potential issue. I would be curious as to what thoughts and others on this thread might have regarding the pros and cons of this argument. Later, Z

To: Mark Oliver who wrote (4756)	10/19/1998 3:45:00 PM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 9256

Unlike the rest of you, I am constantly revisiting my own ignorance. In this case, I'm trying to figure out what a 6.4 gig per platter drive offers Quantum's Bigfoot in cost savings. If the Bigfoot TS 6.4 drive only has 2 recording services, why do they have 15 heads? Then you have the 8.4, 12.7, 19.2 capacity points that use 16 heads each. I thought a single suspension and head was used for each recording surface, which I assume is one side of the platter. quantum.com Regards, Mark