As a prelude to the battle over a standard format for storing computer data on digital audio tape, European start-up Gigatape GmbH of Munich, West Germany, has launched what it claims are the first DAT back-up products to hit the market. The Giga 1200 system uses the diminutive DAT cassette format to store up to 1.2Gb, with average access time of 20 seconds. According to chief executive Peter Rosenbeck, the new technology will alleviate the problem that the capacity of Winchester drives is far outstripping that of analogue tape drives, making back-ups a time consuming and cumbersome affair. Currently, Gigatape is offering Gigapack units for specific hardware, initially AT alikes and DEC MicroVAX, but next month Novell NetWare installations, followed by the Apple Mac II, mid-range Siemens Unix machines, Sun Microsystems, Bull DPS 6, and various Unix systems will be added. The real business, however, relies on OEM sales, and this in turn needs a common formatting approach. This may emerge early in October, when the Data/DAT committee is due to meet in California: the committee is supported by all the major DAT manufacturers – apart from Hewlett-Packard Co and Sony Corp, who have agreed their own DRR standard. Gigatape has offered its format to the committee, but says it can adapt its current products to whatever format is agreed. It uses Japanese Victor Co drives for its Giga 1200 products, and has a strategic manufacturing alliance with Philips’ Grundig unit. It also claims that its DAT formatting proposals have won support from ComputerTechnik Muller, Matra Datasysteme, NCR Europe, Norsk Data, Siemens and Kontron. But the situation is further complicated by emergence of analogue Video 8 and VHS back-up systems using the same helical scanning techniques as Gigatape. The Gigapack 1200 for ATs is UKP5,500 or so.
