Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp and Seagate Technology Inc have signed an agreement to introduce tape technology that it hopes will offer an open format specification for the storage market. The companies want to replace the existing array of incompatible technologies and formats, which it believes will lead to a more straight forward storage space. The idea is to work towards a new format, each firm inputing their own thoughts and technology in. Existing formats will not be called upon to be used in the specification, and IBM’s business development manager Sharon Stone says there are too many tape formats in use at the moment to define a most commonly used one, with formats varying greatly from industry to industry and high end to low end. The companies will offer the specification, which they hope will be ready early next year, on a licensee basis, and each of them will purchase licenses and pay licensing fees. When the specification has been completed it will be put before a standards board in an attempt to establish a common tape format specification. Stone says the companies decided to take on the task of establishing the specification as a result of customer and analyst demands, describing the muddle of existing formats as inhibiting. The companies anticipate the specification will enable true multivendor format specifications for data interchange, scalable performance characteristics, a far greater number of product sources for original equipment manufacturers and end users, more media sources, a much faster adoption and development when it comes to the technology itself and greater investment protection.
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