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

To: La Traguhs who wrote (5497)	2/9/1999 4:14:00 PM
From: Stitch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9256

LT, <<Reason: why bust your pick (and money you don't have) designing a GMR drive when IBM hands one to you??>> Not that it means much but this, of course, tosses the high performance enterprise models out of the equation. The IBM/WDC agreement specifically excludes these drives. If WDC does not qualify other sources for GMR then it basically quits this field. JMHO What a crappy day today. Best, Stitch

To: La Traguhs who wrote (5497)	2/9/1999 4:50:00 PM
From: Frodo Baxter	Respond to of 9256

That's not the impression I get at all re: IBM/WDC. The initial agreement was only for two 4-platter drives for the first stage and a third drive in development. Those first two drives have already been shipped, and they are expensive, useless piles of crap. This is because, the only reason to get IBM drives at all is because they are differentiated, top-of-the-line models. Which is why Dell qualed the 5-platter IBM versions of those drives, while seemingly nobody wants to touch the WDC models. WDC's desktop staff has not been laid off (umm... yet), and they are hard at work at internal programs. As long as Readrite and TDK can deliver time-to-market GMR heads (and they are always cheaper than IBM's), there is no reason to believe WDC will forgo their dual-track operations. This doesn't necessarily mean I think their strategy is so hot, but then, I thought Chucky's head should have rolled long ago.