Hard-disk drives (HDDs) are some of the most important pieces of technology developed over the past 50 years. Everything stored on any electronic device either uses HDDs or owes thanks to them. HDDs are data storage devices used in everything from computers to DVRs, iPods, and even cell phones.

The industry is growing at a record pace in recent years, and this growth is expected to continue. According to Coughlin Associates, the volume of HDDs are expected to go up almost 60% over the next three years due to enhancements in the personal video recorders, such as TiVo, and cell phones.

Take for instance, iPods. Only six years ago, Macintosh introduced the first hard drive based portable music player with 5GBs of storage. Nowadays, Macintosh sells 80-plus GB iPods with video capabilities.

The problem with the storage capacity growth is that the currently preferred HDD recording method, Longitudinal Recording, is struggling to get more capacity out of its disks. That’s where Perpendicular Recording comes in.

Perpendicular Recording is the future of this industry with its more space-efficient method. When making hard disk drives, the storage area on the drives have to be patterned on the actual disks. Instead of packaging the disks with the recording medium running parallel with the disk, the Perpendicular Recording method stacks the medium, creating more space on the disk.

The problem with changing the method of recording is most current HDD manufacturers do not have the machines that can perpendicularly record onto the disks. Enter Intevac, Inc. (IVAC: NASDAQ) — the industry leader of “Hard Disk Drive Recording Machine Manufacturing.”

It is a mouthful and very complex, but nonetheless a very important industry. This small group of machine manufacturers is to thank for almost all of the data storage in the world.

Intevac separates itself from the competition with its already overwhelming 60-plus% of the market share and its newest product, the Intevac 200 Lean Disk-Sputtering System.

The “200 Lean” is a machine developed to bring the HDD industry into the next level of technology. It encompasses all of the currently used technology, including Longitudinal Recording and three sizes of disks, as well as the next generation of HDD making, with Perpendicular Recording and more room to use any number of future disk sizes.

The current Longitudinal Recording machines are still used by most of the HDD manufacturers because the most recent models have the capabilities to upgrade somewhat to the Perpendicular Recording method, but only to a small degree…

The current ones made by Intevac and many of its competitors have a 12-stage processing system, but this will soon be obsolete. The newest technology in this field requires a 13-stage system, which would require brand new machines. The Intevac 200 Lean comes with a 24-stage platform, giving the user 11 stages of future growth.

This machine is currently the most state-of-the-art model in production. It is able to process both aluminum and glass disks of all sizes with a much smaller footprint, giving the user the maximum disks “manufactured per square-foot of factory clean-room space.” This is one of the most important factors when HDD makers decide on a disk-sputtering machine. It tells them the efficiency of the machine, which determines the productivity they can expect.

All of these characteristics of the 200 Lean will give the company a larger presence in the future of disk sputtering.

This company goes far beyond this one product. In fact, on top of other HDD equipment, there is still a whole division of this company that will lead many new technologies into the future, including products designed for military special operations and NATO. More on that in next week’s Penny Sleuth…

Until then,
Jim Nelson
June 12, 2007

P.S.: There are millions of dollars out there to be made on new technologies and growing markets. In fact, right now we have a compelling pick that will surely grab your attention and fatten your wallet. This breakthrough technology has much of the pharmaceutical industry’s attention, but not Wall Street’s…yet.

Investing in Computer Technology was originally featured in the Penny Sleuth.