GLG News by Hard Disk Drive Experts

Thomas CoughlinPresidentCoughlin Associates

Expanding Options for Storing Content in the Clouds

April 14, 2009

Analysis of:Netscape alums tackle cloud storage | www.networkworld.com

* A bright spot in storage in cloud computing where companies can either implement their own systems for storing content on the internet or lease on-line storage   * There are a growing number of cloud vendors offering private or public storage on the Internet   * Zetta, is a start up company with several founders from Netscape that is providing web-based storage   * Zetta competes against already established cloud storage offerings such as Amazon’s Simple Storage Services.

Thomas CoughlinPresidentCoughlin Associates

Standards are Crucial to SSD Adoption

April 14, 2009

Analysis of:Solid-State in the Enterprise: Raising Standards | www.techcrunchit.com

* The enterprise market is one of the brightest niches for solid state drives SSDs can be used in enterprise Tier 0 applications where fast reading (and writing) can enable important content delivery and transaction applications   * These Tier 0 enterprise applications allow faster creation and use of content, thus increases overall demand for digital storage capacity   * Although many companies have introduced SSD products for the enterprise market only a few of these have gained market share   * Without creating standards for SSD products the growth of SSDs in the enterprise market will be hampered.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Time is Ripe for Some Consolidation

March 6, 2009

Analysis of:Where chip industry is headed today | www.mercurynews.com

The stage is set for consolidation in the semiconductor industry.  The firms that will be hit hardest with this are those that make commodity products in low-growth markets.  In particular this will impact Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Qimonda, Elpida, Powerchip, and Nanya.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Seminal Changes Afoot for the NOR Flash Business?

March 6, 2009

Analysis of:Spansion Files for Bankruptcy Protection in the U.S. | www.bloomberg.com

Spansion's bankruptcy filing could indicate the beginning of the end of the high-density NOR flash market.  This would force changes in design methodology at cell phone makers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Bird, and many others, and breed new chipset designs at companies like TI and Qualcomm.  Numonyx, the NOR spin-off formed out of Intel and ST could find that its products' market would decline due to a lack of a viable alternate source.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

How SanDisk's x4 fits into the NAND flash Equation

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:SanDisk Announces Worlds First HIgh Perforomance 4 bit per cell X4 Flah memory Technology | finance.yahoo.com

The NAND flash market will continue to see strong price declines, driven by a combination of Moore's law and new technologies like x4.  This makes it difficult to find profits for any NAND chip maker that does not have a competing technology.  The move has strong implications for Toshiba, Samsung, Hynix, Intel, Micron, Numonyx, and even Spansion.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Get Ready for DRAM Consolidation

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:Winbond open to DRAM consolidation, says company executive | www.digitimes.com

DRAM vendors must consolidate.  This is driven by basic economics.  The consolidation will result in fewer vendors, starting with the elimination of those at the bottom of the market share ranking.  Suppliers Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Elpida, Powerchip, ProMos, Nanya, Infineon, and others will be impacted.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

Infineon Looking Better, but Still Ripe for Takeover

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:Infineon Gains After Boosting Savings Target, Reducing Spending | www.bloomberg.com

Infineon has been looking for a suitor for over a year, and this latest news will not change that.  The consolidation that is overdue in the DRAM market is driven by basic economics.  Consolidation will result in fewer vendors, starting with the elimination of those at the bottom of the market share ranking.  Suppliers Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Elpida, Powerchip, ProMos, Nanya, Infineon, and others will be impacted.

Jim HandyDirectorObjective Analysis

HDD Makers are Under No Immediate Threat

February 19, 2009

Analysis of:Solid State Hard Drives Go Mainstream | www.thestreet.com

Flash SSDs are poised to replace HDDs in the notebook PC market provided users want them to.  If that happens it will be a big plus for SSD makers like SanDisk, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel, Micron, STEC, SuperTalent, SMART Modular, and many other firms.  It will meanwhile serve to harm Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, another part of Toshiba, and Fujitsu.  The PC OEMs: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, and many others will be observers of this battle, as they can switch from one side to the other easily without any harm to themselves.

Thomas CoughlinPresidentCoughlin Associates

New consumer devices may eventually replace books with storage and display

February 11, 2009

Analysis of:Amazon Raises an E-Book Specter | online.wsj.com

* Both Sony and Amazon as well as a few other companies such as Team Research have introduced e-book readers * These devices use a technology called e-ink to display text, this is a low power display since power is only used when pages are changed * Amazon just introduced a new generation of e-book reader that can store up to 1,500 books on flash memory and with a better resolution display * As the displays improve and storage capacities increase these devices may be able to give good illustration displays as well as text * Within the next five years we may see a revolution in how we handle and display text and printed material due to such devices

Thomas CoughlinPresidentCoughlin Associates

Slumping PC sales will impact storage and memory component sales

February 10, 2009

Analysis of:Sales of PCs to fall for the first time in eight years | www.ft.com

* The last quarter of 2008 saw sales of PCs plummet vs. expectations  * IDC is now projecting that PC sales for 2009 could show a decline over 2008, the first year over year decline since 2001  * There are indications that 2009 PC sales will decline faster than anticipated by IDC, including sales in developing countries and corporate buyers  * Microsoft is getting ready for an early launch of its Windows 7 platform (perhaps by July) which may spur some PC sales but perhaps benefiting less powerful machines such as netbooks

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