In 1984, IBM signed a joint development and licence agreement with Cipher Data Products on tape drives designed to use the half-inch cartridge developed for IBM’s top-end 3480 drive – but the agreement barred Cipher from introducing new types of drive to use the cartridge before IBM had a comparable product in its line. Now, reports Electronic News, IBM has relaxed the restriction, and as a result, Cipher says that it will launch a small form factor drive that uses the 3480 cartridge in a few weeks. IBM had been expected to offer such a drive with Silverlake; the decision means it may have changed its mind.