History (1993): IBM’s Comeback to Helical Scan

Ampex (Redwood City, CA) and Adstar, IBM’s storage arm in San Jose, CA, have agreed to develop high-speed on-line archival storage systems capable of storing several terabytes of information, based on Ampex’s technology for helical scan recording and IBM’s for the library and the controller.

This device is aimed at large computers, with HIPPI interface and Escon connection with optical fibers.

The first prototype will be installed at the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA).

Ampex already offers a helical scan drive that can hold 25 to 165GB cartridges, and a 256-cartridge robot.

The company, an authority in professional video, has developed in 1965 a computer mass memory, the Terabit, with a 124GB capacity, based on helical scan recording technology.

Then IBM came along in 1974 with its 3850 library with funny looking cartridges shaped like shells, but not very successful since it only sold 700 robots.

Masstor Systems (Santa Clara, CA) already sells libraries based on the helical scan technology and connectable to mainframes, the first ones set up on IBM 3850 cartridges, the second ones on large magnetic cartridges using a technology from one of Eastman Kodak’s subsidiary, Datatape.

Storage Technology (Louisville, CO) also has projects in this same segment, based on a D3 cartridge with a half-inch wide tape.

On its side, the Emass group, commercial products group within E-Systems Inc. (Dallas, TX) offers a library containing D2 cassettes (19mm wide tapes), the smallest one similar to VHS cassettes, with individual capacities of 24, 75, or 165GB in a robotized library originated from Odetics or Ampex.

Metrum Information Storage (Denver, Co), a subsidiary of Group Technologies, is involved in helical scan tape units and jukeboxes based on T-120 cartridges.

Many other small jukeboxes or stackers for 4 and 8mm drives are also available, but they are mainly for mini and microcomputers.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠60, published on January 1993.