Foreword

The Asia-Pacific Magnetic Recording Conference (APMRC) has come a long way since its inauguration in 1995, with the APMRC 2012 as the ninth conference in a successful series. The APMRC 2012 marks a milestone in the history of the APMRC series by expanding its focus from mechanical and manufacturing aspects of the hard disk drive to include all technical areas in hard disk drive R&D that include aspects of recording heads, media, signal processing, to name a few. The APMRC 2012 is therefore a conference truly dedicated to hard disk drive technology. In an effort to reach out to and include the larger data storage community, a data center summit, the Storage System, Hard Disk and Solid State Technologies Summit, was incorporated into the APMRC 2012. The expansion of the scope of the APMRC is strategic and timely as the quest for improved data storage has never been as strong as it is today; as a matter of fact, the demand for data storage capacity is expected to grow even more insatiable in an exponential manner in the near future. To address this need, the APMRC aims to provide a conducive platform for researchers from both academia and industry to interact and to explore collaboration opportunities as they press ahead in their endeavors to achieve ultra-high recording density in the multi-tera bit per square inch regime. Apart from the presentations delivered by eminent researchers from the disk drive community, I am pleased to inform that all 12 principal investigators under the A*STAR Thematic and Strategic Research Programme, Integrative Approach for 10 Tb/in Magnetic Recording-Growing Hard Disk Drive R&D and Industry, also participated in the Conference to showcase their latest research outcomes. While adopting an exciting new format, the APMRC continues in its strong tradition as it grows from strength to strength. We are very encouraged to have hosted a record number of participants at the APRMC 2012-a total of 208 researchers who hailed from Singapore, USA, Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and so on.