Seagate

A former Seagate Technology employee says the company improperly used technology gleaned from Convolve Inc. and tried to cover up evidence of it after Convolve sued, according to a filing made in the case.

The two companies have sparred in court for nearly a decade over allegations that Seagate and Compaq Computer stole Convolve technology that improves the performance and cuts the noise level of hard drives.

Seagate introduced a new solid-state drive (SSD) Monday that is destined for deployment in enterprise blade and general server applications. Based on single-level cell flash memory technology, the company's new Pulsar device features a 2.5-inch small form factor and capacities ranging between 50GB and 200GB.

However, the Pulsar is merely the first offering in a new product portfolio that the company intends to expand over time, noted Seagate Executive Vice President Dave Mosley.

Seagate Technology has taken the wraps off a new storage adapter that promises to let individuals access their digital content from any location worldwide where Internet access is available. Called the FreeAgent DockStar, the device is designed to make it a snap for users to create their own personal storage "clouds" without having to place their content on a server hosted by others.

Bill Watkins, the outspoken former chief executive of Seagate, wants to make a thinner iPod.

Watkins, a Silicon Valley veteran, has joined the board of Vertical Circuits, a start-up that has come up with a technique for cramming large amounts of flash memory into a tight space. By using technology from Vertical Circuits, device makers can fit lots of high-speed memory into their products and leave more room for bigger displays and larger batteries.

Seagate and AMD have joined forces to develop what they call the next generation of high-speed data transfer -- and they are showing off their innovation this week at the Everything Channel Xchange Conference in New Orleans.

The companies offered the first public demonstration of their Serial ATA 6GB/second storage interface. With burst speeds of up to six gigabits a second, the innovation targets bandwidth-hungry desktop and laptop PC applications such as gaming, streaming video, and graphics multimedia.

The Trusted Computing Group on Thursday released final versions of three specifications to strengthen data protection, help organizations comply with regulations, and secure corporate information.

The specifications for storage devices offer a blueprint for developing self-encrypting hard drives that lock data, can be immediately and completely erased, and can be combined with the Trusted Platform Module. Major storage vendors, including Hitachi, Toshiba and Seagate, support the specifications.

In response to a down economy and a slowing PC industry, Intel has slashed the prices of its processors. The chipmaker cut the price of its Core 2 Quad chips by up to 40 percent and continued the theme with less-dramatic price cuts across its line.

Specifically, Intel's mobile Celeron chips and single-processor Xeon chips also saw price cuts. The decision to slash prices puts Intel's processors closer to par with rival AMD's products, but may put strain on the company to meet its price-performance goals.

Micron announced Tuesday that it will soon begin delivering 256GB solid-state drives for notebooks and servers. SSDs have quicker access times and consume less power than standard SATA or SCSI hard drives.

The 256GB drives could begin showing up in laptops and notebooks this winter along with 32GB and 128GB versions. But Micron spokesperson Beth Gregg said that due to demand, "The next crop of sample drives will not be available for seven to eight weeks."

Apple's MacBook Air laptop features a solid-state drive (SSD). So does HP's new Mini-Note. While still a tiny part of the market, SSDs are starting to worry traditional hard-drive manufacturers. A lot.

In a sign of the showdown between old and new storage technologies, Seagate, the market leader in traditional hard drives, filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, claiming that SSD manufacturer STEC has violated four of its patents covering the interface between storage and computer.