About the Author Kanu G. Ashar is a consultant and adjunct professor at Santa Clara University, California. Associated with IBM for thirty-four years, he established and managed advanced semiconductor device technology departments at IBM's East Fishkill Laboratory, New York. Later he moved to San Jose and managed magnetic recording groups, which included thin film and MR head projects at IBM Development Laboratory. He accepted an assignment to establish and manage magnetic and optical recording groups at Tokyo Research Laboratory of IBM Japan. He was invited to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, as a visiting professor where he taught microprocessors and applications. Dr. Ashar has received several patents and is author and co-author of numerous publications in the fields of semiconductor devices and magnetic recording. He has received three patent plateau awards from IBM, and is recipient of the management Excellence Award from IBM Japan.