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OnPATH
Technologies Unveils Industry's Largest Fibre Channel Switch
Marlton,
NJ - October 21, 2008 - OnPATH Technologies today introduced its first
8Gbps Fibre Channel switch module.
The new module supports up to 12 multi-rate Fibre-Channel ports and
can be scaled up to 1,536 8Gb FC ports in one non-blocking switch. ...OnPATH Technologies
profile, SAN
switches |
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| Toshiba
Samples Bigger 2.5" Car Drive |
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IRVINE,
Calif. - October 21, 2008 - Toshiba is sampling its first 80GB SATA
automotive-grade HDD - a 2.5" form factor drive which spins at 4,200 RPM.
Toshiba's
latest model features an operating altitude specification of 5,500 meters and
supports an operating temperature range of -30º to 85º Celsius. The
MK8057GSC also can withstand operational shock of 300G, providing a rugged and
dependable storage solution for automobiles operating through extreme
temperatures and terrain. ...Toshiba
profile, 2.5"
SSDs, Hard disk drives,
Military Storage
Samsung Gazes Wistfully at Future SSD Pie in the Sky
Editor:-
October 20, 2008 - a report in etnews.co.kr says that Samsung
would like its SSD revenue to be $5 Billion in 2012.
My own view
is that it's unrealistic, given the critical gaps in Samsung's IP, the
weaknesses in its marketing and the strength of competition in the SSD market.
Samsung will need a much better understanding of routes to market and branding
to achieve half of this. Focusing on mediocre products and low pricing won't do
it. ...read
the article, ...Samsung
profile
SanDisk May Offload Fab Costs to Toshiba after Announcing
Sustained Decline in Revenue
Milpitas,
CA, - October 20, 2008 - SanDisk Corp , today announced results for the
3rd quarter ended September 28, 2008, and a plan to restructure joint venture
operations with Toshiba.
Total Q3 revenue was $821
million, a decrease of 21% on a year-over-year basis. Net loss in
accordance with GAAP was $155 million.
SanDisk also
announced
today an agreement neabling it to sell 30% of its shared wafer fab capacity
to Toshiba which could
reduce its equipment lease obligations by approximately $1 billion. However,
SanDisk and Toshiba will continue to be equal partners for the approximately
70%capacity of the fabs that remain in the joint ventures. ...SanDisk profile
Analyst comments:-
from - Jim Handy,
Objective
Analysis
This assets-for-cash swap will bolster SanDisk's coffers during a
time when the company's stock price is depressed, but their cash position was
not desperate during their last earnings announcement. Why would SanDisk be
interested in an infusion of cash at this moment?
We can only guess that this cash might be used to repurchase depressed
SanDisk shares whose price dropped on this news from around $16.50 last week to
just under $14 at the writing of this Alert. SanDisk could use this measure to
help thwart Samsung's
takeover bid, remaining independent until 2009's NAND recovery drives its stock
back to record levels.
Ever since Samsung made public its desire to acquire SanDisk (Sept 17) the
industry has been abuzz with rumors of a Toshiba takeover. Although the
SanDisk/Toshiba partnership would do better without a Samsung acquisition,
Toshiba made it clear that a takeover was not in the cards. This move appears
to be the company's alternative.
Ideas for Better Storage Marketing?
Editor:- October
20, 2008 - when business conditions get tough storage vendors are forced to
think about new ways to generate interest in their products.
As a
result I'm seeing more
advertising inquiries
and also getting more questions about PR. Many years ago I created FAQs pages
for storage marketers, and it might be useful to mention them again.
- PR FAQs (can be
summarized as - editors aren't telepathic) and
- PR errors
(summarized as - don't insult the intelligence of our readers).
These
PR guides actually go into a lot of detail - which can help vendors communicate
better with all
publications, not just ours.
I discussed some of the fundamental
rethinking that marketers may have to do in a recent article on
MarketingViews.
In a
market where nearly all products look the same and use similar technologies -
the knee jerk reaction of vendors is to differentiate products by price. But
too often when I check the validity of incoming "amazing price"
stories - I find that they have no substance.
Services are another
differentiator for vendors - which involve more mental investment by vendors to
create products which offer more convenience to buyers. To be successful
they must solve real needs. Too often (due to inadequate
market research) new
service products are marketed to solve problems which users don't have, or which
users don't rate highly.
Another type of differentiation is branding.
Attaching animal names to storage products is intended to transfer mental images
about attributes like speed, strength, size, cuteness etc from the animal to
the product.My article
animal brands
and metaphors in the Storage Market lists about 100 examples - and is a good
resource for anyone tasked with making their products sound better. All the best
animals have gone. But that doesn't stop vendors recycling the gene pool.
How
about Excellence in Storage? - Not all products are created equal. In a
recession - excellent products have an intrinsic edge. I'll be returning to
this subect with an article in a few weeks which will examine excellence in SSD
designs.
AMI Announces Successor to BIOS
ATLANTA, GA - October
20, 2008 - AMI announces the release of AMIDiag for UEFI, a complete
OEM diagnostics software package for computer manufacturing, testing and
service.
Based on AMI's award-winning diagnostics for DOS and Microsoft
Windows, AMIDiag for UEFI provides a robust and comprehensive software platform
for testing for computer hardware including CPU,
memory, audio, video and
USB devices. A definite
advantage over traditional Windows-based diagnostics is that tests are performed
from the EFI Shell within the UEFI Boot Services layer, allowing direct access
to the hardware with no interference from operating system drivers or programs.
This simplifies the testing process and improves the reliability of the results.
"AMI is proud to be the first in bringing to market a complete, native
manufacturing-level diagnostics software for the
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface,"
said S. Shankar, President and CEO of American Megatrends. "AMIDiag for
UEFI is a rich testing platform supporting the latest CPUs and technologies from
Intel and AMD. AMIDiag for UEFI provides native UEFI diagnostics that build on
the stability, usability and performance developed through many years of joint
work with primary UEFI promoters as well as feedback from OEM users."
...AMI profile,
Storage Testers &
Analyzers |
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A-DATA Ships DDR2-800G
Memory Kits
Taipei,
Taiwan - October 17, 2008 - A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd. has recently
released its Gaming Series DDR2-800G kits.
The 1GB/2GB single
channel and 2GB/4GB dual channel module kits are tested at 800MHz and are aimed
at the PC gamers market - estimated to be over 260 million people.
All memory chips are verified using overclocking criteria for better
quality. ...A-DATA
profile |
 |
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Hitachi Employs
Marketing Company to Grow EMEA
HAVANT,
UK – October 16, 2008 - Hitachi GST today announced the signing of
an agreement with HK Consulting FZE to expand the company's local
presence in Africa and the Middle East.
Based in Dubai, HK
Consulting will provide product promotion services, working closely with
distributors, resellers and integrators to increase demand for Hitachi hard
drives across the region. ...Hitachi profile,
Storage VARs in
the UK
Intel Starts Shipping Fast 2.5" SATA flash SSDs
SANTA CLARA,
Calif. - October 15, 2008 - Intel Corp has begun shipping the X-25E
- a fast 2.5" SATA SLC flash SSD.
Available now with 32GB
capacity, a 64GB version will sample later this quarter.
The SLC SSD
is fast. Read latency is 75 microseconds and a 10 parallel channel architecture
enables it to sustain R/W throughputs of 250 / 170 MB/s. Random IOPS
performance is impressive with a 10 to 1 R/W ratio which is inline with
the best designed enterprise flash SSDs. Using 4kB blocks - random R/W IOPS are
35,000 and 3,300 respectively.
You don't have to do
endurance
calculations for this product. Intel, aiming at the enterprise server market has
done them for you and says the 32GB X25-E is capable of writing up to 4PB of
data over 3 year period (3.7 TB/day), and double that for the 64GB version.
...Intel profile,
the Fastest SSDs,
2.5" SSDs
iSCSI vs FCoE Article in The Register
Editor:-
October 15, 2008 - The Register has published a new article called -"iSCSI:
Game Over?"
In it author
Chris Mellor
discusses how emerging vendor support for FCoE (the first adapters were shipped
exactly a year ago)
might ultimately affect the iSCSI
market. Even if you're already heavily commited to
fibre-channel
SANs or the various flavors
of NAS and have no plans to
change soon - the article makes interesting reading.
Verari Announces Intel-SSD-Inside Hybrid Storage Blade
DALLAS, TX. - October
15, 2008 - Verari Systems today announced HyDrive, a hybrid
enterprise storage blade.
The new Verari HyDrive disk blade
integrates Intel's X25-E
2.5" SSD as well
as high capacity 3.5" SATA hard drives into Verari's
BladeRack 2 X-Series
platforms. ...Verari
Systems profile, rackmount
SSDs, Hybrid
Storage Drives |
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