One of the most surprising pieces of hardware at the show in our opinion was Hitachi's new high end 9.1GB Ultra Wide and Ultra2 SCSI drive.

Named the "DK3E1T-91" (real sexy name there Hitachi) this new screamer delivers a spindle speed of 12,000rpm, the first hard drive ever to hit such a high figure. Luckily the good stats don't stop there as the drive also has an average latency time of 2.5ms and a seek time of 5.0ms.

According to Hitachi's literature the DK3E1T-91 actually requires less energy than a standard 7,200rpm hard drive, and thereby generates less heat. For added heat protection the drive has aluminum cooling fins integrated into its front, helping to dissipate heat much like a CPU's heatsink.

There weren't any running samples of the DK3E1T-91 on the show floor, although one of Hitachi's senior tech guys did indicate a Q1/99 date for the drive's debut. Expect a Sharky Extreme review sometime in January if media samples become available according to plan.