The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Nanomagnetic Devices" was held in Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid, Spain, from 14 to 19 September 1992. This book contains 21 invited articles related to suggestive and relevant aspects of Magnetism. The NATO Advanced Research Workshop was Co-directed by R.C. O'Handley, B. Heinrich and A. Hernando. The organisers as well as the participants are gratefully acknowledged to the NATO Science Committee. I also wish to thank the publishers for their advice and help in organizing the book. xi DESIDERATA OF STORAGE DEVICES C.E. YEACK-SCRANTON IBM Corporation, E02/005 5600 Cottle Road San Jose, CA 95139 USA ABSTRACT. Typical requirements on cost, capacity, and performance of today's magnetic storage devices and industry trends in these attributes are given. Scaling components, devices, and materials is shown to be a key factor in further improvement, Challenges to continued scaling are reviewed, particularly as they relate to magnetic nano-structures, materials, and characterization techniques.