One thing I've been working on here in Fujisawa is perpendicular recording. Recently, HGST made a press release regarding our perpendicular work, further putting up a page dedicated to the technology. C|net has coverage as well.

What isn't mentioned is that Toshiba claims that they'll be releasing a 40 GB/platter 1.8" drive using perpendicular recording this quarter. On the other hand, the last time they made an announcement, they were over six months late on delivery, so it's entirely possible HGST will beat them to the punch. The one player we haven't heard much from is Seagate. They could be a wild card in the race to perpendicular recording.

Edit [2005.04.07 01:32]: DMZ sent me this link to a Hitachi GST animation on perpendicular. It's so bad, I actually feel embarrassed. I can't believe they spent money on that crap—they should've put the spare dollars into additional research, since things are going to heat up real soon now. Companies that make the transition well will survive; those that won't will die. The HDD industry is competitive to say the least.