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After suffering a decline 2009, global revenue from shipments of Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Optical Disk Drives (ODDs) used in computers is expected to grow in 2010 as PC shipments rise on the strength of the economic recovery, according to iSuppli Corp.

Worldwide revenue from shipments of HDDs used in computer applications is expected to amount to $27.7 billion in 2010, up 18.4 percent from $23.4 billion in 2009. Computer-oriented ODD revenue will increase to $14.8 billion in 2010, up 7.6 percent from $13.7 billion in 2009. In comparison, computer-oriented HDD revenue declined by 11.7 percent in 2009, while that of ODD decreased by 6.3 percent.

“The 2010 economic recovery will bring rising sales of PCs,” said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at iSuppli. “The notebook sector is expected to be particularly strong, with shipments outgrowing those of desktops. This will drive the robust increase in HDD shipments.”

Four leading companies — Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Thomson Licensing, Toshiba Corporation and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (collectively, the "BD4C Licensing Group") — today announced that they have commenced a worldwide joint licensing program beginning on March 1, 2010 for Blu-ray ("BD") and DVD patents essential for BD decoders, BD encoders, BD players, BD read-only discs, BD recordable discs, BD drives, BD/DVD hybrid discs and BD recorders ("BD Products"), including BD Products that incorporate DVD functionality.

The potential licensees will benefit from one-stop shopping for the essential patents owned or controlled by the four companies, which will facilitate the development of the BD market.

The license portfolio consists of BD and DVD patents, owned or controlled by the four companies, that are essential for BD Products. Licenses for the portfolio will be available for products that comply with the specifications for the BD formats promulgated by the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Vantec Thermal Technologies, a worldwide leader specializing in computer accessories announces the expansion of the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 product lineup. Featuring the NexStar SuperSpeed Hard Drive Dock, available in both black and white and the NexStar SATA to USB 3.0 Adapter.

The NexStar Hard Drive Dock gives users a quick and easy way to access their SATA hard drives. By simply sliding either a 2.5" or 3.5" into the dock, users can begin reading and writing data from the attached hard drive. On the other hand, the NexStar SATA to USB 3.0 Adapter is extremely portable and is the perfect tool for a technician to have in their bag.

RaidSonic announced today that they will be showcasing three new USB 3.0 equipped ICY BOX hard drive enclosures at CeBIT 2010. The IB-230StU3 is designed to hold a single 2.5-inch SSD or HDD and features a fine metal surface and shock absorbing silicon tray. RaidSonic will also be introducing a new 3.5-inch drive enclosure. Along with its USB 3.0 interface, the IB-330StU3's most notable feature is its ability to mount a hard drive without any screws.

Last but not least, RaidSonic has unveiled a new USB 3.0 RAID enclosure. The IB-RD4320StU3-B holds two 3.5-inch hard drives, which can be configured for RAID 0, RAID 1 or JBOD.

HighPoint Technologies is announcing the RocketRAID 640 series– the industry’s fastest SATA 6Gb/s RAID host adapters powered by PCI-Express 2.0 x4 bus speeds. The industry’s first 4 port native SATA 6Gb/s RAID host adapters allow users to upgrade to the fastest SATA hard drives and scale to higher storage capacities.

The RocketRAID 640 series is the newest edition to the RocketRAID SATA 6Gb/s host adapter portfolio. This series offers 4 independent SATA 6Gb/s ports for internal or external storage connectivity. A PCI-Express 2.0 x4 bus technology and is also backward compatible with PCI-Express 1.0 for legacy systems. HighPoint hardware assisted RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD offers a balance of storage performance or protection.

The newest in tool-less technology, the EZVault RFID is the pinnacle of stylish design and functionality. Made with the highest quality materials combined with outstanding design, the EZVault is vibration proof and excellent at getting rid of and keeping out any heat that could damage your hard disc or solid state data drive.

Unique is the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) lock. This build in function enables you to lock and protect your data. The supplied RFID key is as small as a quarter and can be used as a key-ring. Your data is locked and save in the new EZVault RFID enclosure from Spire – Powered by Innovation!

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), a leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system and notebook manufacturer, today announced the launch of the ECS U3N2 and S6M2 expansion cards as the most flexible solution for many upcoming USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps external devices.

The ECS U3N2 USB 3.0 expansion card which is powered by NEC USB 3.0 controller chip delivers a brand new standard SuperSpeed USB 3.0 performance up to 5Gbps data-transfer rate which is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and at least 900mA current output for each port to easily access SuperSpeed external devices, also, the ECS U3N2 USB 3.0 expansion card provides a great flexibility with its backward compatibility to USB 2.0 and earlier devices.
 
The ECS S6M2 SATA 6Gbps expansion card which is powered by Marvell SATA 6Gbps controller chip can precise access the new generation SATA 6Gbps system storage that will bring amazing performance boost than SATA 3.0Gbps storage for performance-hungry users; an eSATA 6Gbps port is also necessary to provide for users saving their time in frequently accessing big files.

LSI Corporation today expanded the industry’s broadest portfolio of 6Gb/s SATA+SAS storage adapters with the introduction of new MegaRAID® controller cards and host bus adapters (HBAs). New offerings include the first 6Gb/s controller cards in the MegaRAID entry line, expansion of the MegaRAID value and feature lines, and new HBAs including a high port count configuration.

"The LSI portfolio of RAID controllers and host bus adapters is the most extensive 6Gb/s SAS product line available to the channel," said Brent Blanchard, director of worldwide channel sales and marketing, LSI. "Our channel customers now have access to 6Gb/s SAS-based storage controllers that span the market from entry-level to enterprise-class systems, providing them with the flexibility to meet the demands of a broad range of applications at affordable price points."

The new MegaRAID entry line of controllers are designed for inside-the-box connectivity and include the four-port MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i and eight-port SAS 9240-8i cards. The controllers allow small to medium businesses using high-performance workstations and entry-level servers to employ robust RAID functionality at affordable prices.

Sans Digital, a leading provider of high performance storage subsystems, is introducing two new hardware RAID models TR4UT/TR4UT-B and TR5UT/TR5UT-B, expanding the award winning TowerRAID storage product line. The TR4UT/TR4UT-B is a 4-bay tray-less enclosure while the TR5UT/TR5UT-B is a 5-bay enclosure with removable trays. With over 200MB/s in performance, both models are designed with eSATA and USB 2.0 interfaces, supporting RAID 0, 1/10, 3, 5 and CLONE (N-Way Mirror). The packages also include a free 2-port eSATA 6 Gbps PCIe 2.0 x1 host bus adapter for computers where eSATA ports are unavailable.

Due to the complexity of hardware RAID engines, hardware embedded RAID enclosures always marketed at high price points. Users often wish to take advantage of the high performance benefit of hardware RAID, but are unable to afford such units. The TR4UT/TR4UT-B and TR5UT/TR5UT-B are designed to fill this gap by providing high performance, yet affordable, RAID solutions. The embedded and dedicated hardware RAID engines are capable of providing over 200MB/s under RAID 0/10/3/5, maximizing the existing eSATA bandwidth. Performance is doubled under RAID 0 mode and 6x faster under RAID 5 mode, in comparison to software RAID products. The packages also include the latest 2-port eSATA 6Gbps PCIe 2.0 x1 controller (HA-HIG-R622, valued at $65), which allows an improved eSATA performance at no additional cost. The MSRP of TR4UT/TR4UT-B and TR5UT/TR5UT-B are $289 and $349 respectively, which are lower than the selling prices of similar products in the market.