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Enterprise Storage
RAID Price War Set to Erupt with Intels New ICH5R Chip
According to industry sources, Intel earlier informed its motherboard clients that it would release two south-bridge chips, the ICH5 and ICH5R, for its upcoming 865 (Springdale) chipsets. Of the two, the ICH5R is the one supporting RAID 0 function. Despite its simple specification, board makers believed that the introduction of the ICH5R will significantly affect the RAID chip market, especially as the chip is quoted only $3 higher than the ICH5. While Promise Technology offers more chips with different specifications, including RAID levels 0, 1 and 0+1, its chip is priced at $6-7 per unit, which means that motherboard manufacturers may have to pay 50 percent more in cost to incorporate RAID functions into their products than simply adopting the ICH5R.
Read the full story on:DigiTimes
Personal Storage
Sony Shines Light on Blu-ray DVD Rollout Plans
Sony Corp this week said it would start sales next month in Japan of the worlds first DVD recorder that uses blue laser light and can pack a two-hour high-definition TV program onto a single disc. It wont be cheap, with a retail list price of 450,000 yen ($3,800) while entry-level DVD recorders using conventional red lasers go for as little as 50,000-70,000 yen. The recorder, which includes a built-in broadcast satellite tuner, will hit store shelves (in Japan) on April 10. No date has been set yet for an overseas roll-out, the company said.
Read the full story on:Reuters
CMC Announces Price Hike for CD-R Discs
CMC Magnetics this week announced that it raised its quote for CD-R discs to $0.19 per unit, up one cent from last month. The market anticipates Ritek may follow suit with a price hike in April. The penny price rise could increase profit margins on CD-R discs by 5 percetn. Most optical disc manufacturers have shifted part of their CD-R disc production to recordable DVD discs and will not be expanding production of CD-R discs in the future, according to the DigiTimes report.
Read the full story on:DigiTimes
Storage Business
StorageTek Tiers Channel Partner Effort
StorageTek this week plans to unveil its Total Channel Program aimed at ensuring its channel sales continue to outpace the companys overall sales. The companys channel sales generated double-digit sales growth in 2002 and are expected to do the same this year, said George Karabatsos, vice president of StorageTek reseller sales. The company has made its direct-sales compensation program as channel-neutral as possible, Karabatsos said. “But we dont want to push all our business indirect,” he said. “Some should be direct.”
Read the full story on:CRN