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

To: Stitch who wrote (4791)	10/23/1998 2:43:00 AM
From: Dale Stempson	Respond to of 9256

>>> FWIW I took profits on KMAG at 5+ today (Thursday) as 60% in 5 days was just too good to pass on. <<< Cool move and nice play Stitch (I doubt I would have held even the 5 days) Congrats. Regards - Dale

To: Stitch who wrote (4791)	10/23/1998 10:59:00 AM
From: Mark Oliver	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

Do you see any chance of RDRT getting into Fujitsu with their GMR? If they are the first company to go GMR across all platforms, it would seem like RDRT would have to be there to solidify their position, even if they are a secondary supplier. Market seems to like RDRT today. I thought the conference call was actually pretty positive. Didn't seem like they got many blurbs about beating estimates or anything to back up what could have been positive. Then the SEG announcement came out which was good. Hoping for a slow climb to 10+. Regards, Mark Drive makers cite familiar refrain: raise capacity, cut power By Terry Costlow EE Times (10/22/98, 2:57 p.m. EDT) LAS VEGAS — Disk drive makers are gearing up for next month's Comdex conference by pushing up capacity and tweaking technologies to gain an edge in a troubled market. IBM remains the industry's technology leader, but Fujitsu is ready to make a strong move that could increase its presence. Both companies are set to make announcements next week. IBM Storage Systems Division (San Jose, Calif.) will leverage its strong position in giant magnetoresistive heads (GMR) to create a 2.5-inch drive that stores 5.7 Gbytes per square inch — an industry record — for a total capacity of 6.4 Gbytes. That model stands 9.5 mm tall. A version that is 17 mm high targets the portable drive segment and has a peak capacity of 14.1 Gbytes, which makes it the capacity leader for that segment. IBM's lead is being challenged by Fujitsu Computer Products of America (San Jose, Calif.), which made a bold move in GMR head technology by implementing the drive head technology in its entire product line. That enables Fujitsu to store 4.3 Gbytes in a 9.5-mm tall drive and 6.49 Gbytes in a 12. 5-mm drive. Those capacities exceed the storage volumes offered by the market's two other players in notebook drives, and trail only the capacities offered by IBM. Fujitsu, which has been one of the fastest growing drivemakers over the past two years, also beefed up its offerings in the high end with drives that hold up to 36.4 Gbytes and rotate at 10,000 rpm. The Allegro line uses 3-inch platters instead of 3.5-inch disks to lower power consumption and increase performance. The drives have an average seek time of 5.5 milliseconds — a rate that's quicker than what's found on drives with larger platters. Drives with smaller platters have less surface area, so the drive's heads can get to data more quickly than if they have to travel another half inch. The use of smaller platters also keeps power consumption down, so the drives don't consume any more power than those which spin at 7,200 rpm, making it easier for server designers to upgrade to the faster drives. Seagate Technology Inc. (Scotts Valley, Calif.), which unveiled the first 10,000 rpm drive, beefed up its Cheetah line with a 36-Gbyte model that aims to further reduce power consumption with what it calls a just-in-time (JIT) seek. A drive's head normally moves to another track as quickly as possible, then waits for the desired data to rotate under the head before it starts to read. With JIT seek, the drive's controller determines when the desired bits will spin under the spot on the disk where the head will land. The positioning arm then moves at a rate that assures its arrival in time; in effect, this means the arm can often move at a much slower rate than it did under the previous technique. This change can reduce power for the 10,000-rpm drive by 10-to-15 percent, leading to major savings in both heat and power usage in large server racks that have several drives. The Fujitsu and Seagate drives underscore a significant shift in the server-class portion of the market. Some analysts feel that 10,000-rpm drives will account for about half the drives sold in this segment next year. The introductions come as drive makers attempt to match their production to demand after a glut of drives caused a price war observers have called the most severe in an industry known for periodic pricing battles. Most drive makers have reduced their production, and some producers say the pricing battles are nearing their end. eet.com

To: Stitch who wrote (4791)	10/26/1998 3:09:00 PM
From: Mark Oliver	Respond to of 9256

Here is announcement of the 4.3 program we expected from WD. This drive, among others, should be enabled by RDRT heads and create demand that will allow RDRT to exit next quarter with 4.3 as the high volume product as they said in their conference call. What I'm wondering though, is RDRT indicated in their Conference Call that they had a enterprise drive near announcement, which would be their first. Could you say this WD drive is an enterprise drive? Seemed like they expected the announcement from WD, but maybe we have another announcement coming? They also heads going into Seagate's Cheetah. Regards, Mark HP To Deliver Enterprise-class Storage Area Network Management Solution Solution to Leverage HP's Network, Systems and Storage Management Expertise PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1998-- Hewlett-Packard Company [NYSE:HWP - news] today unveiled its Storage Area Network (SAN) management roadmap, indicating that it would leverage its industry-leading HP OpenView Network Node Manager technology to deliver the highest-possible levels of scalability and manageability for enterprise-class SAN implementations. HP said it expects to deliver the first in a range of new and enhanced storage solutions for the emerging SAN management market next spring. The company said its SAN management offering would be differentiated by the ability to do the following: •provide automatic discovery of devices connected to a SAN; •support multidimensional graphical representations of the network; •manage arbitrated loop configurations as well as fabrics, and •deliver advanced Fibre Channel management capabilities, together with HP Enterprise Storage Solutions. A SAN is like a LAN in that it establishes high-speed connections between storage elements and servers or clients, offloading resources from the primary network. When hubs and switches are introduced, resource management becomes difficult, thereby creating the need for advanced management solutions. ''The adoption of SAN technology across open systems in the data center is inhibited by the lack of robust management tools,'' said Michael Peterson, president of Strategic Research Corporation. ''With its proven network- and systems-management experience for global organizations, the HP OpenView enterprise-management suite has the opportunity to lead the enterprise-class SAN management market and enable this important technology.'' HP's SAN strategy includes working closely with other leading suppliers to ensure compatibility. ''OpenView's proven success in traditional storage management makes it a logical choice for customers moving to Fibre Channel SAN environments,'' said Marylin Edling, general manager of HP's Enterprise Storage Solutions Division. ''Manageability is an essential component of an effective SAN, and OpenView helps us deliver high-availability SANs that are stress-free.'' ''Heterogeneous storage networks will be possible only through tight collaboration between the major providers,'' said Robert Dutkowsky, EMC's executive vice president of Markets and Channels. ''EMC is dedicated to working with market leaders such as HP to ensure that management of enterprise storage can be achieved via emerging Fibre Channel technology.'' HP Delivers Enterprise Backup and Restore Solution The HP OpenView SAN management solution will complement HP OpenView storage-management products, such as the new HP OpenView OmniBack II, release 3.0, which is now shipping. HP OpenView OmniBack II 3.0 is first to market with support for Microsoft(R) Cluster Server environments. It also includes the following: •support for backup and restore over Fibre Channel and high-performance disaster recovery on Windows NT(R); and •additional integration with EMC business-continuance solutions, Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) and TimeFinder, to continue the HP OpenView OmniBack's leadership in providing the highest level of business continuity through zero-downtime backup. About HP OpenView HP is one of the world's largest providers of integrated network-, application-, storage-, security-, deployment- and service-management solutions. HP OpenView solutions are at work in more than 100,000 multivendor distributed computing environments worldwide. Together with offerings from more than 200 partners, HP OpenView offers a complete portfolio of services and management solutions on all major platforms. Information about HP OpenView solutions can be found on the World Wide Web at openview.hp.com. About HP Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 127,200 employees and had revenue of $42.9 billion in its 1997 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at hp.com. Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Windows NT is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.