History (1996): HP Into DLT Libraries

Hewlett-Packard released a new family of libraries combining its own robotics technology with Quantum’s DLT4000 drives.

The libraries are targeted initially for Unix OEMs and users of HP 9000 servers.

They are equipped with 2 to 4 drives and 28 to 48 cartridges of 15GB or 20GB, for native capacity up to 960GB. Users can start with a 2-drive, 28-slot unit and upgrade to bigger configurations.

The average cartridge access time is 12s and the average exchange time 28s. The drive takes 48s to load and 17s to unload, yielding an average data access time of 68s.

Robotics MTBF is rated at one million swaps.

Among its more interesting tecnological features is online drive replacement which allows the user to hot swap a drive without interrupting the unit.

A dedicated slot stores a cleaning cartridge for routine cleaning.

HP has designed a single-finger robotic actuator that “grips” the cartridge, thereby reducing chances of robotics error.

In the future, DLT7000 drives will be integrated in these libraries, prices of which will be announced in August.

The OEM versions are available now, while models for HP 9000 servers are expected to be ready by August 1.

At the end of 1995, HP had alread y signed an agreement with Quantum to offer DLT drives on the HP 9000 computers.

HP already manufactured automatic libraries for 5.25-inch optical and 4mm DAT media.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue 101, published on June 1996.