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Technology Stocks : QUANTUM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TechMeister who wrote (8551)	3/9/1999 1:42:00 PM
From: John Biddle	Respond to of 9124

What the competition thinks of QNTM's push into network storage biz.yahoo.com Thursday March 4, 4:04 am Eastern Time INTERVIEW-EMChopes to see 15 pct Asia sales By Alicia Seow SINGAPORE, March 4 (Reuters) - Dominant data storage provider EMC Corp hopes Asia will contribute 15 percent of its turnover in two or three years, against 10 percent in 1998, a senior executive said on Thursday. "We want more growth out of Asia," executive vice president of markets and channels Robert Dutkowsky told Reuters in an interview. "We'd probably like to see Asia grow another five percentage points in contribution over the next couple of years," he said. "Fifteen percent without Japan would be a good number for us." Dutkowsky was in Singapore to launch EMC's new networked storage systems in Asia. In 1998, the Asia-Pacific region including Japan contributed 10 percent to the market leader's $3.97 billion turnover, the Americas 60 percent and Europe, the Middle East and Africa the remaining 30 percent, he said. Dutkowsky said he would prefer sales distribution to be more even. "We had a very strong 1998 in Asia Pacific. "But the problem is not that Asia is not growing. The problem is North America is growing so fast...they pulled away," he said. Dutkowsky said growth from Asia would track EMC's overall revenue and profit growth forecast of at least 30 percent in 1999. According to Dataquest figures, the Hopkinton, Mass. company increased its share of the market for external storage systems to 35 percent in 1998 from 30 percent a year earlier. IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) was second at 22 percent and no other competitor had more than a 10 percent market share, EMC said. Commenting on Quantum Corp's (Nasdaq:QNTM - news) commitment to boost its networked storage offerings, Dutkowsky said he did not see much competition in the short term from the traditional disk drive maker. "The only two companies that can measure up to our qualities are IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) and Seagate (NYSE:SEG - news)." EMC packs its refrigerator-sized storage units with scores of hard disks it buys from IBM and Seagate. EMC shares closed on Wednesday at US$97- after ending on Tuesday at $98-03/16.

To: TechMeister who wrote (8551)	3/9/1999 2:01:00 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9124

Another partnership on A/V Hard Disk Drives, this time with Panasonic for High Definition TV. biz.yahoo.com Monday March 8, 9:07 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Panasonic Partners With Quantum to Utilize Audio/Video Hard Disk Drive Technology in High Definition TV Application Joint Demonstration Of Quantum QuickView at National Association of Broadcasters Show in April; Companies to Cooperate on Additional AVHDD-enabled Products MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 1999-- Quantum Corp. (NMS:QNTM) and MEI/Panasonic today announced the completion of a development project incorporating Quantum QuickView digital storage technology in a Panasonic High-Definition Television (HDTV) application. The successful design will be the first demonstration of Quantum QuickView that enables an HDTV receiver to record in multiple HD formats and to immediately access any recorded content. The demonstration will be shown by both Panasonic and Quantum at the National Association of Broadcasters Show April 19-22 in Las Vegas. Development work between Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (MEI), its subsidiary Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries Ltd. (MKE), and Quantum is expected to result in a series of AVHDD-enabled Panasonic products available to consumers beginning this year. Panasonic expects the first product to be a home video editing console with unique image control functions enabled by AVHDDs. Later, the company plans to offer other products that take advantage of the AVHDD potential, including an HDTV receiver with pause, instant replay, fast, noiseless searching, and extended time recording of satellite and other broadcasts. Soon movies, music, games, and other types of entertainment or educational programs could be sent to consumers in the form of large, digital files via digital set top boxes (STB) from a variety of sources, including digital broadcasts and full-motion images from the Internet. Quantum QuickView represents a medium to allow users to store these programs and also allow them to gain access to the content easily and conveniently. "This is another significant milestone in the acceptance of Quantum QuickView technology by the global consumer electronics industry," said John Gannon, president of Quantum's Hard Disk Drive Group. "Our development work with Matsushita and the resulting product demonstrations in April at the NAB show give us confidence that the time is right for this digital recording technology in a variety of consumer applications." Quantum QuickView digital storage technology is based on hard disk drives that can be installed in a TV set-top box, television set, or digital VCR. Quantum QuickView makes random access recording and playback possible. So instead of a VCR winding its way through hundreds of feet of tape, Quantum QuickView technology enables instant rewind, slow motion, even pause of live broadcast television. "We are confident that our relationship with Quantum will allow Panasonic to deliver exciting new features to our customers," said Dr. Yoshitomi Nagaoka, director and board member of MEI. "Quantum shares our vision that AVHDDs provide tremendous value to consumer electronic products." About Quantum Founded in 1980, Quantum Corp. (www.quantum.com) is a diversified mass storage company with leadership positions in both fixed and removable storage markets. Quantum is the highest volume global supplier of hard disk drives for personal computers, a leading supplier of high capacity hard drives and the worldwide revenue leader among all classes of tape drives. The company sells a broad range of storage products to OEM and distribution customers worldwide. Quantum's sales for the fiscal year ending March 1998 were $5.8 billion About MEI Based in Osaka, Japan, and best known by its Panasonic brand, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is one of the world's leading producers of electronic and electric products for the home, the office and in between. Consolidated annual sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998 reached a record 7,890.7 billion yen (US$59.78 billion). Matsushita has more than 275,000 employees worldwide, with overseas operations that include over 220 companies in 46 countries and regions. Matsushita's products are marketed worldwide under the Panasonic, Technics, Quasar and National brand names. About MKE Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MEI, and specializes in the manufacturing of optical/hard/floppy disk drives, combination TV, video cameras and heating equipment. The foregoing statements regarding future technology, products incorporating that technology, the anticipated performance, capabilities and estimated availability of future products, as well as the potential market acceptance and impact of the new products are forward looking statements and actual results could vary. Factors which could affect actual results include the success of the ongoing technology development efforts, the ability to successfully integrate new technology into products in a cost-effective manner, the ability to successfully manufacture and distribute new products at sufficient volume, quality and reasonable cost, the timing of new product introductions, competition and the significant uncertainty of market acceptance of new products. Note to Editors: Quantum and the Quantum logo are trademarks of Quantum Corp., registered in the United States and other countries. Quantum QuickView and the Quantum QuickView logo are trademarks of Quantum Corp. An advisory will be provided in early April with specifics of the NAB show and information on booths where the Panasonic implementation of Quantum QuickView will be demonstrated.

To: TechMeister who wrote (8551)	3/9/1999 9:55:00 PM
From: Maverick	Respond to of 9124

RESEARCH ALERT - Merrill raises rating on Maxtor PALO ALTO, Calif., March 8 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co. on Monday raised its rating on the shares of computer disk drive maker Maxtor Corp. to intermediate-term buy from intermediate-term accumulate, citing strong demand for personal computers among other factors. Merrill analyst Robert Hansen also said concern over the disk-drive deal recently cut between Dell Computer Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. has unduly hammered the shares of Maxtor and others like Seagate Technology Inc. and Quantum Corp. "We think the carnage in the prices of disk drive stocks is overdone," Hansen wrote in a Monday note to clients. He added that Maxtor stock has plunged more than 50 percent since hitting a 52-week high of $21.25 in late January. Hansen also said: -- he was comfortable with his first-quarter estimate of 17 cents a share on revenue of $697 million, largely because the company recently told him that first-quarter shipments were in line with expectations; -- he expected Maxtor's unit shipments to be "flat to up slightly sequentially (versus a mid-single digit seasonal decline for the industry)"; -- Maxtor was upgrading its disk drives with faster so-called GMR head technology and is ahead of its competitors in making the transition; -- channel inventories in the disk drive industry had decreased to three to four weeks, down from double digits a year ago; -- Maxtor's penetration of PC makers was growing, having signed up nine of the top 10; -- overall PC demand "remains healthy, albeit off to a slow start" in the first quarter; Maxtor shares closed up 44 cents at $9.19 on the Nasdaq.