IBM's 810MB Hard drive for laptops

[Joshua Hosseinoff <hosseino@yu1.yu.edu>]

I just found this announcement on one of the IBM gopher sites.  It 
explains the breaktrhough that lets IBM make these 800MB hard drives for 
laptops.  What I find most informative however is the price that IBM 
charges OEM manufacturer's for these:  $795 !!!!!!!!!!
Maybe some 750 users can purchase some of these Hard drives.

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MR Head Technology, No-ID Formatting Puts 810MB on Three Disks

IBM EXPANDS ITS FAMILY OF HIGH-CAPACITY 2.5-INCH
HARD DISK DRIVES FOR OEM CUSTOMERS

     SAN JOSE, Calif., May 10...
The IBM Corporation today announced for the Original Equipment
Manufacturer (OEM) market two new 2.5-inch hard disk drive models
that each pack 810 megabytes (MB) of information onto just three
platters -- the most compact storage yet provided for notebook
computers.  With volume shipments to begin before the end of the
month, IBM expects to be the first to market with 2.5-inch drives of
this capacity.

     The new DVAA 2810 model includes an AT(IDE) interface with a data
transfer rate of 8.3MB per second while the DVAS 2810 includes a Fast
SCSI-2 interface with a data transfer rate of 10MB per second.  The
new products expand IBM's families of 2.5-inch drives to include
products with capacities of 270, 344, 405, 540 and 810MB.

     IBM's use of magneto-resistive (MR) head technology is largely
responsible for its ability to provide the industry's highest storage
densities.  IBM was the first company to provide MR head technology
to the marketplace when it began shipping hard disk drives using
that technology to customers in 1991.

     Also helping to store more information on each platter is a newer
technological innovation from the IBM Research Division called No-ID
(TM) sector formatting.  It was used for the first time in the 1- and
2-disk members of the 2.5-inch disk drive family, and is also used in
the 3-disk drives announced today.  With No-ID sector formatting, the ID
(or header) information necessary to find the exact location of
desired data on the disk is stored in solid-state memory instead of on
the disk itself.  This frees up substantial space for useable data,
since the ID information can occupy as much as 10 percent of each
track on the disk.  Besides increasing storage density, No-ID sector
formatting can also improve disk drive performance and reliability.

     "This latest addition to IBM's line of 2.5-inch hard disk drives
offers high-end notebook computer users storage capabilities previously
available only on desktop systems," said Fred Wiele, IBM Storage
Systems Division vice president, storage products marketing.  "With
today's announcement, IBM answers the growing demand for higher-capacity,
high-performance disk drives in the 2.5-inch form factor.  These new
drives offer the same superb performance and reliability that
characterize all of IBM's magneto-resistive head drives."

     IBM's use of magneto-resistive head technology allows the company
to offer the highest areal density available in a 2.5-inch disk drive
-- 493 million bits per square inch -- and deliver an unparalleled
270MB capacity on each platter.  The 810MB formatted capacity of the
new drives is packaged on three platters within the 17mm-high form
factor for notebook computers.  The drives also feature a mean time
between failure (MTBF) of 300,000 hours.

     The new drives offer a high-performance peak data transfer rate
of 35.8 Mbits/sec, a fast 3800 rpm rotational speed and a 14ms average
seek time.

     The high capacity and high data-transfer rate of the drives bring
a new, high-speed performance level to such data-intensive
applications as multimedia and graphic presentations, and
communications.  Also, the drives offer energy-saving low power for
extended notebook battery life.

     OEM evaluation units of the DVAA and DVAS 2810 2.5-inch hard disk
drives are priced at $795 and will be available this month.  Volume
production and general availability to OEMs will also begin in May.

     IBM is the world's largest supplier of computer storage products.
Through its Storage Systems Division, the company provides a full line
of storage solutions for IBM systems, for original equipment
manufacturers (OEM) and for commercial distribution.  Its offerings
include disk drives, magnetic tape subsystems, automated tape libraries,
optical drives, optical libraries, disk arrays, storage controllers and
related storage management software.  The IBM Storage Products Company,
a unit of the Storage Systems Division, has responsibility for the
development, manufacturing and marketing of hard disk drives and their
supporting technology components.

                             ###

No-ID is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp.


IBM US #144

05/10/94


For facsimiles of this and other IBM product press releases, dial the
IBM FAX Information Service at 1-800-IBM 4FAX, and enter 99 at the
voice prompt.

To obtain facsimiles of product description sheets for the DVAA and
DVAS families of 2.5-inch disk drives (or other storage products),
callers from the United States and Canada can dial a fax information
service line at (415)903-0547.  At the voice prompt, enter the
document number 1053.

Contacts:  Carol Keslar
           IBM Storage Systems Division
           (408)256-5555

           Lisa Ritter
           GCI Group
           (213)930-0811