Here are a variety of storage-related stories from around the Web. The subjects include storage hardware and software as well as financial news and industry trends related to the storage market.
Hardware
Toshiba Preps Low-Noise Blue Laser
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp. next week will show off a new blue-violet diode laser with record low noise and high output power. Due for demonstration at the CEATEC Japan 2003 expo in Makuhari Messe, the gallium nitride-based device emits 200 milliwatta at 409 nanometers in continuous-wave mode. Toshiba says that the noise level of -132 dB/Hz is the best ever achieved in a blue diode laser, although the figure quoted was measured when the laser emitted only 3mW. Over the next few years, blue-diode-laser-based optical disc systems are set to replace the systems based on red diode lasers that are used in current DVD technology.
Read the full story on: optics.org
Software
Seagate Ships Lindows on Hard Drives
Seagate Technology LLC and Lindows.com recently announced the availability of LindowsHD, a copy of LindowsOS preloaded on specific Seagate 40GB capacity Barracuda 7200.7 hard drives. Computer manufacturers of all sizes can purchase the hard drives pre-loaded with LindowsHD in the U.S. for no added premium over hard drives delivered with no operating system at all, the company said.
Read the full press release on:Silicon Valley Biz Ink
Storage Business
Microsoft Set to Recruit Storage Integrators
Microsoft is poised to recruit storage integrators as part of an ambitious effort to dramatically expand its storage software market share. The software giant is in the midst of building a storage partner “ecosystem” including OEMs, storage integrators, and white box builders specializing in storage, said Charles Stevens, corporate vice president of sales and marketing for Microsofts Enterprise Storage Division. As for storage software product development plans, Stevens said Microsoft is aiming to develop “innovative” products slated to be delivered in one to two years that will not compete with Microsoft partners such as EMC and Veritas.
Read the full story on: CRN.com
Fibre Channel Switch Market Sees Changes
Brocade Communications Systems Inc. held on to its No. 1 spot in the overall Fibre Channel switch market, according to research firm DellOro Group. But in the key FC fabric switch segment–where Brocade has historically been the strongest—the company showed only 18 percent sequential growth for the second quarter, while the overall industry grew at a 25 percent quarterly rate, to an estimated 290,400 ports shipped, according to DellOro. McData Corp. was the only major SAN switch vendor to increase its share in the second quarter of 2003—increasing its piece of the Fibre Channel switch market to 33 percent.
Read the full story on: Byte and Switch