Hewlett-Packard Co has introduced the Model 10LC high-performance, 5.25 multifunction optical disk library that offers a 16-disk, 10.4Gb capacity for breakthrough storage cost of under $1.20 per Mb. Evaluation units are going out to OEM customers now and production units are planned for July. The library is designed for image management, archival and hierarchical storage and unattended back-up for personal computer and workstation networks. The library uses the company’s Model C1716C multi-function – erasable and write-once disk drive mechanism, which has transfer rate of up to 1M-byte per second and average seek time of 27mS. The average disk-exchange time is less than eight seconds. It uses a rotating mailslot design, and is expected to be available in an upright, deskside tower or 19 rack-mount configuration. It is expected to be priced under $10,000 (including one drive) and can also be ordered with a 16-pack of rewritable or write-once optical disks for an additional $2,960 – $185 each.
