Tokyo-based optical glass manufacturer Hoya Co claims to have perfected the world’s first magnetic disk platter using a glass rather than an aluminium substrate: the new platter is claimed to store four to five times more data than an aluminium one, and Hoya wants $20 a 3.5 platter, $25 for 5.25 ones – a 20% premium on conventional platters; Hoya is laughing, since it costs between a third and a half less to manufacture a platter of a given capacity in glass than in aluminium; Hoya will produce the glass disks in Japan and send them to its Hoya Electronics subsidiary in San Jose, California to have the magnetic recording film coating laid down, and Hoya Electronics will also market them.
