Hitachi Leads Data Storage Industry to Next Level of Performance, Launches 3.5-In. Hard Drives with Capacities Up To 36.8 GB
Company Extends Technology and Performance Leadership in Enterprise Storage Market Segment with New Drive Family
BRISBANE, CA
Oct 21, 1998 00:00 AM
Company Extends Technology and Performance Leadership in Enterprise Storage Market Segment with New Drive Family
Hitachi America Ltd. today announced a new family of 3.5-in. 7,200 rpm hard disk drives, including the industry's highest capacity 3.5-in. drive, a 36.8 Gigabyte (GB) model that sets a new benchmark for high-performance computer data storage.
With support for industry standard high-speed data interfaces and average seek times of just 7 millisecond (ms), the new family of drives reinforces Hitachi's position as a technology and performance leader in the market for enterprise storage products.
Hitachi's new disk drives store an incredible amount of data in a physical package smaller than a VHS videotape by achieving an areal density of 2.93 Gigabits (Gb) for each square inch of disk surface in the drive. With this high areal density, the DK31AH-36 model delivers 36.8 GB of storage in a half-height (1.6-in. tall), 3.5-in. form factor drive, while the DK32AH-18 provides 18.4 GB capacity in a 1.0-in. height, 3.5-in. drive.
In demanding storage applications, such as disk arrays and file servers that support transaction processing and real-time computer imaging, high capacity must be matched by fast data access and high-speed data transfer rates. The new Hitachi drives support either Ultra SCSI-2 (LVD), which reaches an 80 MB/s data transfer rate, or Fibre Channel (FC-AL), which achieves data transfer rates up to 100 MB/s.
In demanding storage applications, such as disk arrays and file servers that support transaction processing and real-time computer imaging, high capacity must be matched by fast data access and high-speed data transfer rates. The new Hitachi drives support either Ultra SCSI-2 (LVD), which reaches an 80 MB/s data transfer rate, or Fibre Channel (FC-AL), which achieves data transfer rates up to 100 MB/s.
"We are very excited to lead the data storage industry into the age of super high-capacity storage," said Gary Galusha, vice president of hard disk drive sales for Hitachi America's Computer Division, Storage Products Group. "This new drive series builds on Hitachi's proven reliability as a supplier of enterprise-class 3.5-in. disk drives, while taking advantage of our experience in notebook drive technologies. This combination lets us extend our leadership in storage for applications where speed and capacity are the key to successful systems."
Hitachi manufactures all of the core technologies used in the new drives, including advanced Magneto-Resistive (MR) heads, MEEPRL (Modified Extended-Extended Partial Response Maximum Likelihood) read channel electronics, and embedded servos. A Hitachi Super-H RISC microprocessor is used as the on-board controller while intelligent caching algorithms, tagged command queuing, and other features are used to optimize data access and data throughput performance.
The drives have a 7,200 RPM disc spin rate, and internal data transfer rates of 150-240 Mbits/s. Average read seek times are specified at 7.0 ms for the 36.8 GB drive, and 6.8 ms for the 18.4 GB model, with an average latency of just 4.16 ms. Each drive has an on-board data buffer of 2 MB in the Ultra-2 SCSI models, and 4 MB data buffer in the higher throughput FC-AL models.
OEM samples have already begun shipping, and production shipments are scheduled to begin in January of 1999.
This new series of high-capacity drives builds on Hitachi's current product line which includes 9 GB and 18 GB 7,200 rpm SCSI drives, the world's only 12,000 rpm 3.5-in SCSI drive, and industry leading high capacity 2.5-in notebook drives.
The Computer Division of Hitachi America Ltd. sells high-capacity, high-performance hard disk drives, CD-ROM, and DVD drives through its Storage Products Group. Hitachi America Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., Japan, markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics, computer systems and semiconductor products, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout the United States.
Additional company information is available at Hitachi America's web site at http://www.hitachi.us/storage.
Hitachi Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1997 (ended March 31, 1998) consolidated sales of 8,417 billion yen ($63.8 billion(1)). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi Ltd., please visit Hitachi 's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp. (1) At an exchange rate of 132 yen to the dollar.