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Power Tools 1993 November - Disc 2
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RBYTE.TXT
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1993-03-08
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R-BYTE
BACKGROUND
R-Byte, founded in 1988 by Ross Johnston, now employs 50 people and has
only one product to its name. This took two years to develop, and was
announced early 1991, and began shipping in September.
PRODUCT DETAILS
PRODUCT DATE ANNOUNCED CAPACITY TRANSFER RATE FORM FACTOR PRICE
DAT
RB100 Q1'91 1.3GB * 233KB/s 3.5"HH $975 (OEM)
* Without DC, other 1.3GB DAT products only have a transfer rate of
183KB/s.
- This gives them a 28% lead on transfer rate.
MARKETING
Visibly R-Byte rates poorly when compared to other DAT vendors,
although they have been praised by computer journals. Their main push
has been behind their higher transfer rate, and from this they have
brought through the fact that they manufacture everything in the US
(Perhaps hoping to catch any nationalism in the end-consumer due to the
recession?, or inferring higher quality?)
A strong advantage has been their cost - $975 OEM, they have quoted
industry analysts price for existing drives as being $1,200.
CHANNELS - They are selling through computer makers and system
integrators.
MANUFACTURING
The drive uses a proprietary DAT mechanism. The drive uses 40% fewer
components than other DAT drives. R-Byte previousl did not rely on
Japanese-made mechanisms they manufactured the mechanism in-house;
however, January 1992 :
R-Byte signed a manufacturing agreement with Fujistsu Ten. Starting in
March 1992 Fujitsu will be manufacturing mechanisms, shipping them to
California for R-Byte to complete the manufacture of the Drive.
Over a period of between 3-6 months Fujitsu will manufacture more
components, until they eventually manufacture the whole drive.
The relationship is vital for R-Byte, if they are to increase their
output as their maximum capacity per day is 500 units, while Fujitsu
Ten's is far larger.
PERSONNEL
CEO : Ian Turner
VP Marketing/Sales : Gerald F. Boudreau
VP Product Planning/Development : Ross Johnston
SUMMARY
The main weakness R-Byte has is their late arrival into the DAT
industry. OEM accounts and Distributors will already have built-up good
relationships with existing vendors. Their experience will be limited
due to the low cumulative output, therefore costs may be higher per
drive (coupled with their lower output to overheads). However, they
should be able to maximise on the increase in the Dealer channel, as
this would suit their preliminary output levels, and existing
relationships would not prove to be a barrier. Their low price quoted
will also help them.