New hard drive tech will help Seagate crack 5TB barrier in 2014, 20TB in 2020

Seagate on Monday announced that it has sold more than 1 million drives using a new recording technology that will offer consumers 5TB hard drives next year and possibly 20TB drives by 2020.

The technology Seagate is touting—shingled magnetic recording (SMR)—is needed more than ever.

Just as NAND flash is running up against a miniaturization wall, where the circuitry has little room to continue to shrink in size, hard drives face a similar density dilemma. The data tracks on a 1TB hard-drive platter cannot afford to shrink much more, according to Seagate.

The theoretical limit of magnetic storage, called the superparamagnetic limit—about 1Tbit per square inch of storage density—is fast approaching. Increasing the density beyond that will lead to data corruption issues. Currently, Seagate's drives store data at up to 625Gbits per square inch of storage areal density.

SMR is only one of several technology advancements pushing the limits of hard drive capacity. Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) is expected to take disk drives to 5Tbits per square inch. Seagate rival Western Digital is expected to release helium filled disk drives later this year. The helium provides less resistance than air and so will allow more platters to be stacked closer together.

"With SMR technology, Seagate is on track to improve areal density by up to 25% or 1.25TB per disk, delivering hard drives with the lowest cost per gigabyte and reaching capacities of 5TB and beyond," Mark Re, Seagate's chief technology officer, said in a statement.

Seagate would not disclose which of its drive models today use SMR. It would only say that system makers that use them know they're using them.

SeagateHow tracks are typically spaced using perpendicular magnetic recording.

The principle behind SMR is simple. With the technology, the tracks of a drive basically overlap like the shingles on a roof, thereby allowing Seagate to squeeze more tracks together.

The density problem came about when Seagate and other drive manufacturers pressed the limits of how close they could squeeze tracks together on a drive platter. For a mental picture of platter tracks, think of an LP vinyl record, except on a microscopic level.

The closer the tracks of a drive platter are squeezed together, the more data can fit in a disk drive. But, the closer together the tracks get squeezed, the greater risk of data corruption and read errors—that is, the read/write head of a hard disk drive cannot discern the difference between tracks. In between the tracks are buffer areas to help the read/write heads track accurately.

More platters can be added to a drive, as some drives have today, like a stack of pancakes, but that adds to the height of the drive.

Hard drives today typically use perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), a method of laying down data on a platter that creates tracks that are about 75 nanometers wide, which is smaller than a flu virus. Seagate introduced its first PMR drive in 2007. The drive, the Barracuda, held 250GB of data per platter. That grew to 1TB per platter by this year.

While that seems like a lot, Seagate predicts that households currently generating 1TB of data monthly through streaming or creating content, viewing photos, and sharing music will increase that data creation by 20 times over the next two years. So, drive density must grow along with that.

The write portion of a hard drive read/write head—think of a record player needle—is what dictates the width of a track because it needs to be larger to incorporate the technology to record the data. SMR technology overlaps the write portion of tracks, leaving only the read portion exposed for the head to later find.

SeagateHow SMR offers increased density on platters by overlapping tracks

This is how it works: As new data is written, the drive tracks are trimmed, or shingled. Because the reader element on the drive head is smaller than the writer, all data can still be read off the trimmed over overlapped track without compromising data integrity or reliability.

"The HDD industry is experiencing petabyte shipment growth rates greater than 30% per year while at the same time HDD areal density is improving at a rate less than 20% per year," John Rydning, IDC's research vice president, said in a statement. "Shingled magnetic recording technology is a solution that leverages existing drive architecture to help close the gap in these growth rates while at the same time providing a relatively simple yet economical path to higher capacity HDDs for many applications."

One somewhat obvious problem, Seagate admits, is that SMR works best on a new hard drive where tracks are set down sequentially. On older drives, where old tracks are often overwritten, the writes can overlap previously written data on an adjoining track and unintentionally destroy it.

SeagateHow SMR groups tracks into bands

Because of the write overlap issue, SMR groups tracks into bands, where the shingling process stops. This enables an SMR drive to better manage rewrites. Banding also improves the drive's write performance by grouping tracks into bands that optimize the number of tracks that need to be rewritten.

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The astounding evolution of the hard drive

From the room-size monster that cost a king's ransom to the diminutive device that today costs just a few bucks, the evolution of the hard drive is an amazing story of an industry that's continually delivering more for less.

In just 30 years, the cost of storing a gigabyte of data has plunged from more than $100,000 to mere pennies. Allow us to present the wonderful and amazing history of the hard drive.

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Verizon Wireless buyout drive is all about the money

IDG News Service - The price Verizon might pay to buy out its mobile subsidiary, reportedly $100 billion or more, is the most important thing that mobile users need to know about the potential deal.

Vodafone Group, which owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, confirmed on Thursday that it is in talks with Verizon Communications to sell its minority stake to the U.S. parent company. Vodafone cautioned that there's no guarantee they'll be able to make a deal, but the companies have talked about it before and may be more motivated than ever. Verizon declined to comment.

If Verizon does take the leap, it's likely to be the biggest telecommunications deal in U.S. history. But consumers shouldn't look for big changes in mobile phones or services from Verizon after its wireless partner is sent packing, industry analysts said. If anything, they might just take it as one more sign that they're well-loved.

"It just shows you how attractive this market is," said analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics. The Verizon Wireless deal would come on top of several other transactions in the billions just over the past year: Japan's SoftBank bought control of Sprint for $21.6 billion, T-Mobile paid $1.5 billion plus stock for MetroPCS, and AT&T agreed to buy Leap Wireless at a total cost of nearly $1.2 billion.

"Everybody, from the big to the small, is betting on this market," Entner said.

That's because U.S. consumers are buying into mobile technology and services in a big way and looking to combine the wireless experience with wireline TV and broadband, he said.

"Americans are seeing the value of it," Entner said. "We are leading the wireless broadband, and smartphone, and integrated communications world."

Verizon just wants to put more money behind a good investment, Entner said. The deal might be coming together now partly because interest rates are expected to rise, increasing Verizon's potential cost of borrowing to finance the buyout.

Taking full control of Verizon Wireless would also simplify the company's management, eliminating the separate board of directors overseeing the mobile subsidiary and some redundant administrative functions. Bringing its wired and wireless businesses fully into one company might make it a bit easier for Verizon to offer combined services, he added.

"For the subscribers, I don't think much will change," Entner said. A wholly owned Verizon mobile business wouldn't be significantly more competitive, either. Nor would Verizon's debt load, reportedly $50 million or more, weaken the company. In time, the buyout would pay for itself, Entner said.

"At roughly $2,000 per subscriber, it's not even outlandishly expensive," he said. Cingular paid more per subscriber to acquire AT&T Wireless in 2004, according to Entner.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Verizon Wireless buyout drive is all about the dollar signs

The price Verizon might pay to buy out its mobile subsidiary, reportedly $100 billion or more, is the most important thing that mobile users need to know about the potential deal.

Vodafone Group, which owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, confirmed on Thursday that it is in talks with Verizon Communications to sell its minority stake to the U.S. parent company. Vodafone cautioned that there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to make a deal, but the companies have talked about it before and may be more motivated than ever. Verizon declined to comment.

If Verizon does take the leap, it’s likely to be the biggest telecommunications deal in U.S. history. But consumers shouldn’t look for big changes in mobile phones or services from Verizon after its wireless partner is sent packing, industry analysts said. If anything, they might just take it as one more sign that they’re well-loved.

“It just shows you how attractive this market is,” said analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics. The Verizon Wireless deal would come on top of several other transactions in the billions just over the past year: Japan’s SoftBank bought control of Sprint for $21.6 billion, T-Mobile paid $1.5 billion plus stock for MetroPCS, and AT&T agreed to buy Leap Wireless at a total cost of nearly $1.2 billion.

“Everybody, from the big to the small, is betting on this market,” Entner said.

That’s because U.S. consumers are buying into mobile technology and services in a big way and looking to combine the wireless experience with wireline TV and broadband, he said.

“Americans are seeing the value of it,” Entner said. “We are leading the wireless broadband, and smartphone, and integrated communications world.”

Verizon just wants to put more money behind a good investment, Entner said. The deal might be coming together now partly because interest rates are expected to rise, increasing Verizon’s potential cost of borrowing to finance the buyout.

Taking full control of Verizon Wireless would also simplify the company’s management, eliminating the separate board of directors overseeing the mobile subsidiary and some redundant administrative functions. Bringing its wired and wireless businesses fully into one company might make it a bit easier for Verizon to offer combined services, he added.

“For the subscribers, I don’t think much will change,” Entner said. A wholly owned Verizon mobile business wouldn’t be significantly more competitive, either. Nor would Verizon’s debt load, reportedly $50 million or more, weaken the company. In time, the buyout would pay for itself, Entner said.

“At roughly $2,000 per subscriber, it’s not even outlandishly expensive,” he said. Cingular paid more per subscriber to acquire AT&T Wireless in 2004, according to Entner.

“For U.S. consumers, there won’t be any noticeable difference,” said Chetan Sharma, founder and president of Chetan Sharma Consulting.

Where a Verizon-Vodafone deal could have repercussions is in Europe, because Vodafone might use the proceeds to acquire weaker mobile operators there, Sharma said.

For Vodafone, a U.K.-based company that’s involved in mobile businesses on six continents, Verizon’s interest in buying now may be a lifeline.

“Vodafone’s core markets are in trouble as net revenue is declining,” Sharma wrote in an email interview. “It needs cash to shore up the assets in Western Europe.”

The company is also starting to focus on combined wired and wireless plays, such as its planned $10 billion acquisition of Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s biggest cable operator. The company aims to combine fixed broadband, mobile and TV on one bill, Enter said.

“What is finally motivating Vodafone is the implementation of their European integrated carrier strategy,” he said.

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Government turns to Tumblr and Twitter for new intelligence transparency drive

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Thunderbolt drive shipments surge, but USB still reigns

Though still a small part of the overall interconnect market, Thunderbolt-equipped hardware shipments surged 300 percent over the past year, according to IDC.

There were roughly 20,600 Thunderbolt units shipped in the second quarter of 2012, representing a little over 0.1 percent of all personal and entry-level storage (PELS) devices shipped. In the second quarter of 2013, Thunderbolt-enabled storage device shipments grew to about 0.6 percent of the market, according to IDC analyst Liz Conner, a 411 percent increase.

IDC predicted in its first quarter report that Thunderbolt, which offers 10Gbps interface speeds, could skyrocket to 5.7 percent of the PELS market by 2017. But the dominant interface will remain USB.

USB in the PELS market grew by 11.5 percent year over year in the second quarter. Ethernet also saw strong shipment growth, posting a 10.2 percent growth rate in the same time frame.

The new SuperSpeed specification will increase power to 100 watts and offer bidirectional data and audio/visual transfer, meaning a laptop or monitor with a USB hub could power many other devices, including an HDTV.

The SuperSpeed USB 3.1 specification was recently published and jumps I/O throughput (on paper) from 4.8Gbps (in USB 3.0) to 10Gbps, bringing it on par with today’s Thunderbolt specification. The next USB spec will also eliminate the need for power cords as the first USB Power Delivery specification is expected to boost from 10 watts to 100 watts the power across Power Delivery-certified USB cables. That spec is currently being tested by equipment developers.

Earlier this year, however, Intel also announced that its Thunderbolt specification would double data transfer speeds, opening up peripheral pipes to greater throughput.

“Thunderbolt is definitely growing, but it’s hit a few speed bumps along the way,” Conner wrote in an email to Computerworld.

Thunderbolt sales have suffered in part because of higher prices compared to USB devices, and “people initially assumed it was an Apple only interface (and it took a while for a PC version of Thunderbolt to be introduced),” Conner said.

Hard disk drive prices were also affected by the 2011 Thailand floods, which shut down manufacturing and resulted in drive shortages. That bumped drive prices higher, pushing consumers toward cheaper options, “which really squeezed out Thunderbolt unless the higher speed was a necessity,” Conner said.

“Thunderbolt is definitely growing, but it’s hit a few speed bumps along the way.”—IDC analyst Liz Conner

Thunderbolt will definitely continue to grow, Conner continued, but more as a replacement for Firewire/1394 and eSATA, not as a replacement to USB.

The speed of Thunderbolt is definitely sought by media professionals and other niche users who really need top-level performance, Connor said. But USB 3.0’s speed continues to be “good enough” for most users. That, plus the fact that USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, makes it significantly cheaper than Thunderbolt.

At the same time, the worldwide market for personal and entry-level storage hardware saw double-digit growth in the second quarter of 2013. The market includes storage products that range from a single disk through twelve-drive bay storage arrays marketed for individuals, small offices/home offices, and small businesses.

The worldwide market grew 10.7 percent year over year with 16.8 million units (worth $1.5 billion) shipped in the second quarter, according to IDC’s PELS tracker.

It was the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, according to IDC.

“The second quarter of 2013 brought ... a return to normal for the personal and entry-level storage market,” Conner said. “For the last four quarters, the PELS market has seen a distinct focus on recovery after Thailand floods.”

Drive maker Western Digital was hardest hit by the flooding, with up to 75 percent of the company’s production lines temporarily shut down by the floods, IDC said.

By the beginning of 2012, disk drive production began to recover, but prices remained inflated because of shortages. According to ecommerce tracking site Dynamite Data, the top 50 hard drives on sites such as Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com saw prices jump by 50% to 150%. The price hikes kicked off in October 2011, when inventory levels plummeted 90 percent in less than a week.

Users continue to migrate to higher capacities to meet growing storage needs. In the 3.5-in personal storage market, 2TB drives represented 51.9 percent of shipments in the quarter.

For the 2.5-inch personal storage market, 1TB drives had 51.7 percent of the market, with 4TB devices comprising 28.6 percent of units shipped.

Editor’s note: IDC is owned by the same parent company that owns Computerworld.

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Google Drive blurs the line between Windows and the web with new desktop shortcuts

Google's unrelenting march into Microsoft's turf continues.

A mere two weeks after the release of the Chrome App Launcher for Windows—Google's backdoor into the offline world, basically—the company has announced that when Windows users install the desktop version of Google Drive, it will automatically dump shortcuts for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Drive on your desktop, along with one for your Drive-based online storage.

Double-clicking on one of those icons opens up the associated web app. After signing in to your Google account you're free to powerhouse through your productivity tasks, and all your work will automatically save to the cloud, the Google Drive team explained in a Google+ post. These simple desktop links could prove handy indeed for non-techies or people who chose to live their lives in Google's free, cloud-connected ecosystem, especially if you configure the Drive family of apps to work offline.

Google

While default shortcut dumps are evil incarnate and should be cast back into the depths from which they spawned, Google's move is actually pretty savvy. Not only do the shortcuts reinforce the fact that Drive is a full productivity suite rather than a simple cloud storage box, but like the Chrome app launcher, they also keep Google's service in your face. Plus, the shortcuts further muddle the increasingly blurry line between the desktop and the open web.

“For quite some time, we’ve had a dichotomy between web apps and native apps, and one of the things that sets them apart is the ability [for native apps] to be launched from the desktop and have a degree of persistence and independence from the browser,” Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, told PCWorld when the Chrome App Launcher was released. "…People want to interact with their web apps as easily as they do with their desktop apps."

The Chrome App Launcher helps to break down those walls, and now, so will these Drive-related shortcuts.

And Google? Well, Google makes its money by tossing ads at your eyeballs when you're on the web. Check out PCWorld's Chrome App Launcher analysis for the full scoop on what Google stands to gain by dumping web apps on your desktop, and look for the Google Drive installation tweak to roll out sometime in the next week.

Brad Chacos spends the days jamming to Spotify, digging through desktop PCs and covering everything from BYOD tablets to DIY tesla coils.
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Strong sales of IP networking equipment drive Alcatel-Lucent revenue growth

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