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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ausdauer who wrote (4742)	2/11/1999 8:54:00 AM
From: Jason Rooks	Respond to of 60323

Solid State Disk and Flash Memory Markets Rebound According to the 1999 Solid State Disk and Flash Memory Market and Technology Report, solid state disk (SSD) and flash memory suppliers reported record shipments across the board in 1998, and the future looks even brighter. Reduction in DRAM pricing and advances in bit production technology have pushed prices of both solid state and flash memory down to levels that make them far more attractive as memory options. Prices for SSD drives reached the $16.25/MB level in 1998 and should decline to $4/MB by year 2002. This has made SSD storage far more feasible for a number of applications, including RAID systems and cache memory for Internet servers. The advent of RAID has been a boon to the SSD market. By adding just one or two SSD drives to a RAID system, overall performance can be dramatically increased over that seen in an all-rigid disk drive system. As the popularity of RAID systems continues to grow, sales for SSD drives should continue to break records. Solid state memory used in cache applications is expected to increase 425 percent from 1998 to 2002. According to the report, the growth in Internet usage is the main thrust for the increase in cache memory use. As the need for high-speed connections becomes more prevalent, the use of solid state memory in cache applications will become more commonplace. Quantum, Imperial Technologies and Seek Systems all hold key market shares. The story for flash memory is much the same. Decreasing prices have opened up new markets and expanded existing markets for flash memory products. The birth of the digital camera market sparked a revolution in flash memory. CompactFlash and Smart Media were both introduced to primarily serve the digital camera markets. As the digital camera market explodes, so will demand for flash memory products, particularly CompactFlash. Currently, CompactFlash sales make up 60 percent of the total flash market. The report has just been released and can be ordered by contacting Peripheral Research at (805)-563-9720.