Turns out, a good chunk of it resulted from the price spike in the quarter for hard disk drives, which saw a sharp fall-off in supply as as a result of the recent severe flooding in Thailand.

FORBES: Update: Avnet Profits Boosted By Higher HDD Prices

This last week saw some interesting announcements representing the implementation of technologies that will enhance hard disk drive and flash memory technology in 2013 and beyond.

FORBES: Rare Gases and Fine Lines

As early as the late 1980s Quantum Corp. saw which way the wind was blowing and attempted to reposition itself away from its traditional business of supplying small disk drives to PC manufacturers.

FORBES: Serendigity