Gigatape GmbH, based in Puchheim, West Germany, exhibited its new tape backup system for the first time in Europe at last month’s Which Computer? Show. The 5.25 Model 1230 is the latest in the Giga 1200 range and is aimed at network systems and Unix users. It has storage capacity of 1.2Gb on standard Digital Audio Tape, and a slow 8.15mm-per-second tape speed, reducing wear and tear. However, data recovery tape speed is a much faster 3.13m-per second and comes with electronic track finding with an average access time of 20 seconds. The system has a choice of standard interfaces: SCSI, Pertec and QIC-O2, making it compatible with a variety of host computers, including IBM, DEC, Apple, Sun, Apollo, Unisys and Siemens machines. Prices start at UKP3,500 for the single user, rising to UKP6,000 for the Novell package for network users, which comes with software developed by Gigatape and fellow German Adcomp; the drive is available now.
