E-Systems Inc, Dallas and Ampex Corp, Redwood City, California must have caused some excitement with their come-on saying they had developed a revolutionary computer storage device to be used to store massive amounts of computer data – but disappointingly, it turns out to be tape-based: the device, to be the heart of E-Systems and Ampex products aimed at the supercomputer-based mass storage market, is adapted from a 19mm helical scan digital recorder produced by Ampex for the television broadcast industry, and can store 25Gb, 75Gb and 165Gb on small, medium and large magnetic tape cassettes; the Ampex recorder includes microprocessor control and read-after-write capabilities that enable it to operate virtually error free, while supporting data transfer rates of 15M-bytes per second; E-Systems is currently working with Convex Computer Corp and others to develop the hardware and software interface to the storage device, and Ampex will manufacture and integrate the thing into a robotically controlled storage system that automatically loads and unloads 256 small cassettes; ships are planned for early 1992.
