Hitachi absorbs IBM hard-disk unit, announces new drives

IDG News Service - Hitachi Ltd. announced four new hard disk drive products today and formally launched Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc., a new company comprising Hitachi's and IBM's hard disk drive operations.
Hitachi agreed in June of last year to acquire IBM's unprofitable hard disk drive operations for $2.05 billion. The deal closed Dec. 31 (see story).
Hitachi expects an increase in demand for hard disk drives, not just for PCs and servers, but also for consumer electronics such as car audio systems and set-top boxes. The company's rivals include Seagate Technology LLC, Maxtor Corp. and Western Digital Corp.
New in Hitachi's product range is a drive specifically for automotive applications: the Travelstar A4K20. The 2.5-in. hard disk drive offers 20GB of storage for car navigation and audio applications and will be available in the second quarter.
"The biggest growth area we've got, certainly in Europe and most likely in the world as well, is the automotive market. I think the automotive market could use millions of 2.5-in. drives in the next five years," said Steve Pereira, director of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Europe Ltd., the European arm of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
Another new Hitachi product targeted at new markets is a 4GB version of the 1-in. Microdrive for portable devices such as digital cameras and digital music players. The current Microdrive offers a maximum of 1GB of storage space. The 4GB Microdrive is expected to be available in the fall, Hitachi said in a statement. In addition to increased storage capacity, it will offer a data transfer rate improvement of 50% over existing Microdrives from IBM, according to Hitachi. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Eastman Kodak Co. are among those considering using the small drives in their products, Hitachi said.
For the enterprise market, Hitachi announced the Ultrastar 15K73, a 15,000-rpm, 3.5-in. hard disk drive that will be available this quarter in 36GB and 73GB capacities. The drive is meant for servers and will be available in Ultra 320 SCSI and 2G-bit Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop interfaces, Hitachi said.
For use in notebook computers and other portable computers, Hitachi announced the Travelstar Compact Series C4K40. This 1.8-in., 4,200-rpm drive will be available in April in 20GB and 40GB capacities. The connector on the drive is compatible with the 2.5-in. drives also used in portable computers, so computer makers can easily switch to the smaller drives, Hitachi said.
Pricing for the products was not announced.
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, in San Jose, employs about 21,500 people and is 70% owned by Tokyo-based Hitachi and30% by IBM. However, IBM has no involvement in the management of the company, and Hitachi will assume full ownership by the end of 2005, Hitachi said.