Quantum Corp is planning to replace its common stock with two classes of tracking stock – to track its hard disk drive and tape storage product lines – a move that the firm says is a first for a Silicon Valley-based high tech firm. The plan, which is subject to approval by shareholders, reflects the relative success and failure of its two differing product lines. Quantum said that its digital linear tape (DLT) product line that Quantum bought from Digital Equipment Corp in 1994, now represents 30% of the company’s revenue. A spokesperson for the company described its currently ailing hard disk drive business as volatile and said that separate tracking stocks will stop the HDD sector having such a negative impact on the DLT side of the business. However, Quantum vehemently denies the possibility of a formalized split between the two sectors. The firm is also planning to develop a series of products that use tape technology or a combination of disk and tape to cash in on the popularity of DLT. The company is looking to release integrated disk and tape drives by the end of this year and in the longer term is working on storage appliances and storage management software. Quantum defines storage appliances as network attached storage with onboard ‘housekeeping’ software. The plan is to develop devices that don’t care about the operating system environment on either the device or server side. However, the company has no timeframe for when it will release such a product and faces stiff competition at the workgroup level it intends to pitch its products at from established pleasers such as Network Appliances Inc. á
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