IBM Spins Down

beggs writes "IBM and Hitachi have signed an agreement which will take IBM out of the hard drive market in three years. This press release on IBM's web site gives some details of the deal. 18,000 IBM employees and all their hard drive related patents will join about 6,000 Hitachi employees to form a new company that will be a subsidiary of Hitachi. Sad to see big blue out of the hard drive business, they have made a lot of contributions to computing." We did a story when they announced their plans back in April.

Comments

Re:Moving production to Asia?

[pinkUZI]

What will stop Hitachi from firing everyone after three years and moving production to cheaper Asia?

Nothing. But that's not a bad thing. All that will happen is 24,000 or so people will be freed up to do something else in our economy. A company like this sounds like it belongs in Asia anyway - America isn't known for cheap duplication of already wide-spread technology. We're more well known for our R&D efforts contributing to the latest in technology. So, I wouldn't worry too much about it - with the speed that our economy is changing, we won't even notice the flux of 24,000 jobs.

Yay! No more Death Stars!

[webslacker]

The IBM Death Star has been defeated! The rebellion has won! :D

don't forget

[cr@ckwhore]

don't forget to park the heads before shutting off the lights.

75gxp

[nikitin2k]

Sad to see big blue out of the hard drive business, they have made a lot of contributions to computing. Yeah, it's really sad. I'll espacially miss the 75gxp series.

Re:Moving production to Asia?

[pinkUZI]

and take some away for his lack of personal experience on the issue, see how he feels about being "freed up" to pursue other employment avenues in 20 years time.

Hey, now, don't get me wrong - nobody likes to be laid off. The reason I can deal with it is because I understand the economics of it all - the economy is a delicate thing. Anything man has ever done to hinder the invisible hand of the free market has always backfired. I'd rather be out of a job for a few months in a prosperous country than to have a stable secure job working for the government in a country of distributed poverty. If you give me a hand-out when I'm laid off and make it easier on me, you stifle my innovation and rob the world of the ideas I would think up when it's sink or swim and I've got to swim if I want to feed my kids. One man's temporary discomfort is better to have than the wasted dreams of a nation living well below its potential because it chooses to distribute the weath of those who have earned it to those who have not.

Not sad...but good

[Tazzy531]

IBM has always been tops on the Research and Development in the field of Computer Science. It is not too bad that they are leaving the hard drive market, but actually good that they are doing this. The Hard drives have turned into a commodity. People are making them cheaper and cheaper. At some point, there will so cheap that 1) there will be very little profit margin 2) only a handful of companies will be able to profit.

I'd rather see IBM dump this branch and be able to earn royalty or have stock ownership in this new company than bog down their budget with this sector. By dumping this sector, they can now effectively use their R&D to develop something new. Maybe a new hdd technology, that they will license to the new company.