IBM has moved to allay users’ anxiety about early model 3380K and 3380J disk drives – ones manufactured before the end of September last year by instituting an Engineering Change involving replacement of the faulty bearings in the spindles of the drives – a procedure that takes about 15 minutes, according to the company. IBM does not expect the bearings to give any trouble in more than a handful of drives, and looks to its diagnostic software to point up signs of impending failure well before any damage is done, but users hearing of severe problems caused to some unlucky users clearly no longer trust the things. The change will normally be done during routine maintenance unless the customer asks for it sooner. Latest word on the 3390 drives is that they were to have been announced next Tuesday, July 25, but that the launch has again been put back. Reports from industry sources indicate that IBM had planned to meet key customers during this week and on Monday to tip them off about the impending announcement, but that on Wednesday, IBM postponed or cancelled some meetings. Pre-announcement meetings are a common IBM practice, and such meetings were recently scheduled not only in the US and Europe, but also in such far-flung markets as Australia. IBM still clearly wants to get the things out as soon as it possibly can, but this new postponement means all bets are off.
