IEEE Magnetics Society
Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Meeting Presentation Summary

Tuesday, February 22^nd, 2011

Western Digital, 1710 Automation Parkway, San Jose, CA
Directions and Map
Cookies, Conversation & Pizza too at 7:00 P.M.
Presentation at 7:30 P.M.

Solid States and Spinning Discs in Evolving Internet Landscapes:

   3(4)Q2010 Semiconductor, SSD and HDD Forecast Scenarios

John Monroe
Gartner, Inc.

Abstract

As has often happened in recent years in the wake of new SSD announcements, many analysts tend to stare right through the thicket of explosive need for cost-effective HDD storage capacity in a complicated variety of computing and non-PC applications as if this technology were already dead. It is not, and it will not be for many years.

New semiconductor technologies usually require a decade to reach cost-effective, massive-volume maturity, and we have not yet seen the new semiconductor technology that has the right stuff to entirely replace HDDs as the primary repositories of digital data.

Meanwhile — computers come and go, but data remains, and it grows. Less storage “in hand” or “on the desk” simply means more storage elsewhere. Reliable, high-capacity, high-speed, low-cost HDDs have been and, in concert and conjunction with SSDs, will continue to be key enablers of the widespread proliferation of information, entertainment and communication technologies.

Biography

John Monroe is a research vice president in the storage group at Gartner. He is responsible for tracking all aspects of the hard disk drive industry, including technology and market trends, as well as financial results. Mr. Monroe has established a reputation as an eloquent, imaginative industry spokesperson, has been quoted in many newspapers and magazines, including Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and has been an invited speaker at conferences in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, China, France and the United States.

Mr. Monroe has been involved with disk drive sales, product management and market analysis for more than 27 years. Unlike many analysts, Mr. Monroe has had extensive experience as a business line manager, responsible for the profitable purchase and resale of disk and tape products. Prior to joining Gartner in October 1997, Mr. Monroe spent seven years as vice president of storage products at SYNNEX Information Technologies (where, among other duties, he coordinated the flow of more than 2 million hard disk drives per year), two years as director of North American sales and marketing for Kalok Corporation, five years as vice president of OEM products and sales for Media Winchester Ltd., and three years as a general manager at Electrolabs, a small distribution company, where he began his electronics career in 1980 by selling hybrid integrated circuits and 8-inch floppy disk drives.

Contact:

• John Monroe
• Gartner, Inc., San Jose CA, USA
• Biography
• john.monroe(at)gartner.com