Hitachi Plans 1TB Drive for 2007

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) is celebrating an areal density achievement of 345 gigabits per square inch (Gbits/sq. in.) using perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology. This areal density, demonstrated in laboratory testing, represents an increase of more than two-and-a-half times the areal density of today’s highest-capacity products.

By 2009, Hitachi predicts that 345 Gbits/sq. in. would result in a 2TB 3.5-inch desktop drive, a 400GB 2.5-inch notebook drive or a 200GB 1.8-inch drive. In the first half of 2007, Hitachi expects to bring hard drive areal density half way to the 345 Gbits/sq. in. mark with a 1TB 3.5-inch product.

While 345 Gbits/sq. in. is clearly within grasp in the next two to three years, researchers at Hitachi anticipate that extensions to PMR technology will take hard drive advancements out beyond the next two decades, using ever more complex and sophisticated means such as patterned media and thermally-assisted recording. With these technologies, Hitachi predicts that continued areal density advancements would be possible ten plus years into the future. For example, in approximately 2016, 4 terabits per square inch (Tbits/sq. in.) areal density would enable a 25TB 3.5-inch drive. Beyond that, Hitachi anticipates as much as 100 Tbits/sq. in. areal density will be possible, which would enable a 0.65-petabyte 3.5-inch drive.

Software Piracy Levels Fall in Middle East

Software piracy has been reduced in the Middle East, despite the buoyant growth in sales of personal computers (PC) and booming IT penetration. A recent report quoted by Madar Research revealed that PC unit sales across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states alone had grown 38.66 percent during 2005, exceeding by over 100 percent the average growth of PC shipments to the combined Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets. This estimate featured in a preliminary report released by international research firm Gartner Data Quest in early 2006, which ranked the EMEA as the second highest growing region in the world in terms of PC shipments at 17.1 percent.

Encouragingly though, software piracy levels in the Middle East declined in 2005, dropping by one percentage point to 57 percent, at a time when global software piracy rates remained unchanged at 35 percent, according to the third annual Business Software Alliance (BSA) and IDC Global Software Piracy Study published in May 2006.

The region’s decreasing rate of software piracy becomes an achievement also when juxtaposed against the rise in the average Arab ICT Use Index, which went up by 42.89 percent in 2005 to reach 0.51, as revealed in the Madar Research ICT Use Index. This saw the region’s Internet users growing by 54.84 percent to touch 26 million while the computer installed base expanded to 14 million computers, reflecting a 29.24 percent increase in 2005.

The UAE’s performance in curbing software piracy was particularly noteworthy with the country registering the lowest piracy rate of 34 percent in the region, for the tenth consecutive year despite registering the GCC region’s highest growth of 45.24 percent in PC unit sales during 2005. The level of piracy in the UAE was lower than some European countries and also below that of the global piracy rate of 35 percent, making it the only Arab country and sole emerging economy to figure among the top 20 countries with the lowest piracy rates in the world, according to the IDC Global Software Piracy report.

Europe Probes Digital Music Operations

According to a Research and Markets report “iTunes in Europe: Legal Troubles Brewing?” online digital music stores are under increasing scrutiny in Europe. Apple’s iTunes Music Store is currently open for business in 17 European markets which account for more than 36 percent of global music sales. But the company’s closed, non-interoperable approach is causing concern to consumer rights representatives, government departments and regulatory authorities.

Three Nordic markets have said that Apple’s approach is illegal. Meanwhile, in France, a newly-enacted law is intended to encourage an interoperable market for digital music and replay devices. At a higher level, the European Commission has been scrutinizing Apple’s strategy for some time, having become concerned that it may be having an adverse impact on the development of a healthy digital music market.

In the end, these developments could mean that digital music services and devices sold in Europe must be interoperable, like the case with CDs today. On the other hand, it may be that the difficulties in implementing a pan-European legal framework covering the area are such that nothing much will change at a practical level.

PNB Retools for

Global Banking

The Philippine National Bank (PNB) is leveraging HP’s Core Banking Hardware infrastructure and systems management as it transforms its global IT banking environment over the next three years. To service all of PNB’s branches worldwide, HP will supply a complete hardware platform for the bank’s transition from a combined mainframe and minicomputer (AS/400) environment.

The bank is moving toward a standard, open-system architecture based on HP Integrity Superdome servers running HP-UX 11i on new Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 9000 Series processors (previously codenamed “Montecito”). The architecture also includes HP ProLiant servers and HP StorageWorks XP10000 Disk Arrays. PNB will be among the first customers of Integrity servers using the new Intel Itanium 2 9000 series processor, which will run FLEXCUBE, the core banking suite from i-flex solutions.

PNB’s overseas branches, all presently running on discrete systems, will be standardized on the new architecture, thereby improving processes in key operations like financial reporting and consolidation. The bank plans to activate the new system across its overseas branches by the first quarter of 2007. Locally, the new system also will lay the foundation for the bank’s global data center.