History (1988): Tape Library for 15,000 IBM 3480 Cartridges

An Automatic Tape Library for 15,000 IBM 3480 Cartridges

On Datagraphix’s and Lampertz’s booths at CeBit 1988, there was a huge robot for automatic inserting of IBM 3480 cartridges in a R/W unit.

This robot, named ABBA-system, has been manufactured by the German firm Grau.

The storage unit is a carousel that holding up to 1,500 cartridges. In one room, you can set up 8 drives and 10 carousels which means a total capacity of 15,000 cartridges. The robot moves on rails along 2 rows of 5 carousels each. It goes towards one of the carousels, takes a cartridge and inserts it in the slot of the drive. In a room 17.5 meters long, 5.80 meters wide and 3.25 meters high, one can automatically reach a cartridge among 15,000 others. The robot’s arm works at 900mm/s.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠2, volume ≠1, published on March 1988.