Calluna Plc of Glenrothes, Scotland, in response to news yesterday that Micropolis Corp will receive around $10m from the Advanced Research Projects Agency (CI No 2,535) to develop a 1Gb 1.8 disk drive, has pointed out that it enjoys several advantages over this new US competitor. Whereas Micropolis has no experience in the 1.8 field, having largely abandoned the volume OEM disk market to specialise almost exclusively on 5.25 high capacity video storage disks, Calluna has over three years development experience and products already in the market, offering 210Mb drive with a 260Mb disk to be launched at this month’s Comdex. Calluna is indeed puzzled that Uncle Sam didn’t choose somebody actively involved in 1.8 disks, especially as Integral Peripherals Inc was formed solely for that purpose and is touting a 420Mb disk, MiniStor Peripherals Corp has a 340Mb and Maxtor Corp also operates in the field. Referring to the implication that without the government investment, the 1Gb disk would take four years, Calluna always expected it to arrive within two. And as to the size of the funding, Calluna itself recently raised UKP10.1m on flotation and is fine for money. But after the US government’s involvement in the field, Calluna wouldn’t say no to a grant from the European Union sponsored Esprit fund.
