History (1988): Exabyte Tape Library Up to 480GB

According to its chairman Juan A. Rodriguez, at next Comdex in Las Vegas, NV, Exabyte Corporation (Boulder, CO) will present the first automatic library based on 8mm helical scan cartridges, for mid-range computers.

Complete family of Exabyte 8mm libraries

It is developed and will be manufactured by Exabyte, the only drive manufacturer for this kind of cartridge, originated from a Sony VCR mechanism.

Rodriguez unveiled that this 19-inch rack mounted library would be offered in two possible packages, the first one holding up to 240 cartridges and 10 drives EXB-8200, the second up to 120 cartridges and 5 drives.

For a reminder each cartridge can provide storage for over 2GB of formatted data.

This library should not be compared with the much faster StorageTek 4400 model based on compatible 3480 cartridges. Exabyte is not aiming the same market.

Announced access timefor retrieving a cartridge should be about 10s.

This library will also be sold by Kobuta (Japan), second source manufacturer of 8mm tape drives.

Exabyte is preparing a second generation of its tape drives, the EX B- 8350, with a 3.5GB capacity and a 500KB/s transfer rate.

This article is an abstract of new s published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠8, volume ≠1, published on September 1988.