Storage Technology Corp is determined not to give IBM a fixed target at which to aim as it stumbles along trying to come up with something that will take the wind out of the sails of StorageTek’s 4400 Automated Cartridge System. The Louisville, Colorado company yesterday enhanced the product with a dual Library Management Unit; a new release of the Host Software Component; and a new software product, Expert Library Manager. The dual Library Management Unit provides the capability to configure a hot standby version so that in the event of an unrecoverable failure in the primary tape library unit, a switch over to the dual unit will take place automatically. The new Host Software Component release – 1.1 – provides an interface from the operating system to the 4400, supports dual library capabilities and operations; facilitates coexistence of the 4400 ACS with manual transports using Improved Data Recording Capability and software support for StorageTek’s Improved Cartridge Recording Capability, for which hardware will be available in the fourth quarter; and offers performance improvements, and new utilities and commands. The new Expert Library Manager software further automates the free slot, scratch, cartridge residency and ejection functions of the Library Storage Module management and flexibility and was developed for StorageTek by Clemson University Research Foundation. The IBM MVS version of the host software is $13,500 initial licence, free to existing users, now; the expert software is $6,000 and $350 to $1,000 a month. The VM version of both arrive August 31; hot standby feature is a one-time $4,000.
